Never Been Kissed
by BlackElectric
Summary: MARAUDER ERA. Follow what happens when a girl the Marauders used to bully decides she won't stand for it anymore. Trouble is, things are always different when put into practice. And standing up to Sirius Black is easier said than done...SBxOC. Some JPxLE.
1. Hogwarts

**A/N: I'm writing this as a fairly short (around 20 chapters) little fic. I have a feeling my character starts off pretty angsty but she will become more light hearted as it goes on. And I can promise a lot more Marauder action in the upcoming chapters too. **

**Story: Follow what happens when a girl the Marauders used to bully decides she won't stand for it anymore. Trouble is, things are always different in practice. And standing up to Sirius Black is easier said than done.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you recognise, I just like playing with the Marauders. Who doesn't?**

* * *

**'Never Been Kissed.'**

**Hogwarts**

My alarm clock racketed out the most intolerable noise known to man for what had to be the fifth time that morning. Loud, whiny... and clearly weary with me.

'MEEP!' 'MEEP!' 'MEEP!'

I slapped my hand down on it unceremoniously, though I could hardly blame it. The old 'just five more minutes' stunt had really started to become a joke.

Attempting to peek one of my lids open, I groaned. Not sandpaper eyes, anything but sandpaper eyes! Squinting them shut again rebeliously I pulled the mass of blankets back over my head.

It wasn't until I was immersed in the lovely darkness that it finally dawned on me just why I had set the alarm in the first place; today was the day that I started back at Hogwarts.

A horrible feeling gripped my stomach and squeezed.

Today was the day I would have to face my old bullies again.

Today I would be back at Hogwarts for the first time in a whole year.

I would have to face my old life of geekdom and tormenting.

The culprits, you ask? Isn't it obvious?

x

It was too much to hope they had just up and left Hogwarts. They were the masters of their universe at school, why on earth could they possibly want to leave...?

I mouthed out a pathetically silent 'no'.

I really wasn't ready for this.

Then again, I didn't need reminding what would happen if I missed the school train. Without another seconds delay I found myself up and padding quickly to the mirror.

The sight of my reflection made my angst for the day momentarily abate.

_What the._..I had slept for just three hours, and it seemed my hair had not wasted a second of it rearranging itself into something that resembled the large birds nest I had found in the back garden last week.

I ran a comb through my long fringe before bracing myself with an unladylike grimace, yanking it through the rest of my hair. It staggered halfway where an obscene amount of lugs stopped it in its tracks. The comb bent flimsily.

I cried out, tossing it to the floor in revenge. A quick check at the clock told me time was running out. Fingers it is then.

Scrunching my hair I practically abused it into producing the wavy mass I was used to.

x

I had been referred to as 'pretty' by a boy around nine months ago for the very first time since I was _twelve_, and it had made my entire year.

He had thought _I_ was pretty. _Me_. Nobody thought I was pretty.

In fact my Hogwarts bullies had kindly issued me with a nickname to paint a picture of just how non-pretty I really was; 'Beaver'.

The two ring leaders, Potter and Black, had thought they were so hilariously clever coming up with that. But this boy didn't think I looked like some sort of water mammal. I could've kissed him.

I didn't of course.

I have a strange relationship with the male species, in so much as it's non-existent. In the four years I knew them Sirius Black and his cronies managed to kill my self-esteem dead, and it really hadn't done my love life any favours.

And though admittedly boring, never taking any risks with boys also meant I could never get hurt.

But no more. I'd already made a promise to myself that my year out of Hogwart's meant that I could now start there afresh, and if Black ever tried to make me feel small again I'd punch his ugly attractive face in.

Well, something along those lines anyway.

x

I ended up arriving at the all-too familiar platform earlier than predicted.

After looking around I noticed that everything at the station itself looked pretty much the same as I remembered; the gleaming Hogwart's Express, the large round clock, the school giant unwittingly issuing some of the first years with the fright of their life.

My mother had kindly offered to portkey to the station with me in a bid to offer a bit of support on my first day back, but I'd told her she didn't need to bother herself. If I'm honest I was worried what would happen if I bumped into the Marauders. I didn't want her to have to hear their taunts towards me.

Some sick, twisted part of me was actually hoping to see the Marauders.

I don't even know why.

Maybe I wanted to see if they'd changed. Or maybe I wanted them to see how much I'd changed.

I peered around the heaving station trying to find a familiar face, but not a single one was recognisable. Despite the crowds and the familiarity of my surroundings I felt suddenly alone. And perhaps more than a little nauseous.

x

I pushed my way towards the train doors, almost lost in the throes of the crowd.

Thankfully I was fairly tall otherwise I rather think I would've been trampled on repeatedly by now. The 'floor' felt suspiciously squishy but it was impossible to see what, or worryingly who, I was treading on. I could barely lower my head without headbutting an unsuspecting student.

Trying to ignore the fact that there was a distinct possiblity I had just walked over someone's face I managed to clamour my way to the luxuriously gold- trimmed train doors.

As I lifted my leg to climb on, a rogue elbow caught me straight in the ribs. The resulting pain was so intense that it caught me by surprise, so much so that my raised leg was just left there, hovering stupidly in mid-air.

Once I'd snapped back into my surroundings I looked angrily to find the culprit, still fully aware that I'd promised myself to be strong in the face of potential tormenters. My annoyance was momentarily cured, however, when I saw that it was just a small boy, obviously a first year.

Even as I looked on he was still pushing his chubby body into me in a desperate bid to beat me through the train door.

First year or not that was not ok.

I nudged him away and raised an accusing eyebrow when he turned around.

The 'small boy' peeked up at me and I was more than a little surprised to find that he was actually closer to my own age than I had thought.

He was just extremely short for his age, sporting a rotund frame that wasn't particularly flattering.

Despite having the face of a sixteen year old the poor boy had the height of a pre-teen and the figure of a middle-aged man.

He peered at me through his small, watery eyes for longer than was entirely necessary. He didn't even say apologise, just kept staring.

What was his problem? Did he know me from before or something?

In the end I was forced to relent and look away, climbing resolutely onto the train.

He was starting to freak me out.

x

Even if the weirdo staring boy could not be explained I soon discovered the reasoning behind why the students had been desperately pushing themselves through the train doors. I tried to remember if it had always been this crowded as I stumbled along the people infested corridor.

Finally our bodies all swayed forward in unison as the train give a jolt. The movement made it official; I was on my way back to Hogwarts.

There was no going back now.

I followed the long line of students as we made our way down the trains length, all of us peering with a waning sense of hope into each compartment. My search for a seat was becoming more and more frantic as the mass of people in front of me gradually dispersed into their own compartments.

Every single carriage seemed to be filled with students, laughing loudly and generally having fun.

I couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy every time I saw them.

I always seemed to be on the outside looking in during those situations and looking through the pane of glass at them now made the analogy ironic.

x

I was coming to the end of the corridor and my sense of hope was officially lost. What were the odds on the very last compartment having available seats?

But when I peered in I had to double take. It was virtually empty.

I looked briefly at the door to find the sign I had obviously missed that this one was reserved. But there was no sign. It was free.

A wave of relief washed over me and I gratefully pulled the door back.

It was only when I entered the compartment that I realised every silver lining had a cloud.

The sole occupant of this carriage was none other than the creepy small boy I had encountered earlier.

He was sat nervously in the nearest corner to the door, his watery eyes darting about as if looking for someone.

My heart literally sank at the sight of him. I had no idea how he had even managed to beat me to this carriage. I had gotten on the train_ before _him.

Sighing quietly I flopped down on the seat furthest away from him.

I felt his eyes gradually make their way to my face again.

He was staring. Again.

I screamed inwardly, questioning whether I could put up with this for the entire journey.

Eventually I made up my mind that if he didn't look away in the next ten seconds I would have say something or risk losing my sanity.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six...One quick peek told me he was still staring.

Five… _Why won't you look away?_

Four… _I will throttle you with my bare hands..._

Three… _Damn you!_

Two… _Just one more second and you're dead, do you realise that? You're dead-_

"Hi, I'm just doing the rounds. Everything alright in here?"

A petite, pretty red haired girl slid the door open and unwittingly saved the boy. The sight of her immediately distracted me from any thoughts of cold-blooded murder.

"Lily." The shock made my words sound more like a statement than a greeting.

The girl's confused expression made me pause briefly, but I was certain that it was my old acquaintance. The colour of her hair and eyes could not be mistaken.

"Yes...have we met?" she asked uncertainly.

Had she honestly forgotten me after just a year? We were hardly best friends, but that was...well, hurtful.

"It's me, Cheryl" I explained, "Cheryl Morland…"

I watched her eyebrows raise a little in surprise. Even the boy in the corner seemed to twitch at the sound of my name.

Lily stared intently at my face.

Her bright green gaze seemed to take everything in, causing me to feel self-conscious. It seemed like forever before her scrutiny finally ended with my eyes.

"Oh my God, it really is you," she breathed. "You're back!"

Her mouth broke out into a wide smile and she held out her arms, obviously expecting a welcome back embrace.

Reluctantly I climbed to my feet and returned the gesture. Perversely instead of finding hugs comforting I'd always found them extremely awkward. My Aunt had once said it was because I wasn't hugged enough as a child.

But I don't think that was necessarily true. I was just weird about things like that; human contact etcetera...

Lily's was no different and I was secretly glad when it was over, though I tried not to let it show on my face.

She held me at arms length now and looked me up and down, smiling. "Merlin, it's really you." She shook her head slightly "You look _so_ different."

_Good._

"But where've you been?" she continued in disbelief, oblivious to my inner joy over my altered appearance. "We all wondered where you went when you just didn't turn up last year!"

"My parents divorced and my mother moved us to Ireland for a fresh start," I chanted as though it had been rehearsed and sat down, not really wanting to get into my parents love life, or lack there of.

Lily shook her head, "but Ireland's really not that far away, couldn't you have still come to Hogwa-?"

"No." I said simply, interrupting her in her tracks. I let out a small breath of air, realising how snappy I'd sounded. "I mean," I tried again, my voice placating, "a fresh start to my mom means new home, new school, new everything. She's nothing if not thorough," I tried to joke.

It seemed lost on Lily, who already had her sympathetic head on. Her expression was kind but unwittedly made me feel like a socially inadequate child.

"Well I'm glad you're back anyway," she continued brightly, "I think you'll find things are pretty much the same..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes flicked for the briefest second to the small boy in the corner.

I didn't get the chance to consider the implications of her glance until afterward, because a booming laugh emanating in from the corridor outside made me jump.

It wasn't just the sheer decibel of it that sent a quick convulse through my entire body.

I recognised that laugh.

The small staring boy who had previously looked antsy now had a wide smile on his face as he scrambled to his feet and shouted, "In here, in here!"

I had to resist the urge to rugby-tackle him to the ground and clamp a hand over his tell-tale squeaks. It was too late anyway. He had given away our position.

In a second the door to our compartment was pulled roughly open and three tall boys towered over us from the doorway.

I felt my stomach crawl into my mouth as my body shook with the unwanted rush of adrenaline at the sight of them. A strange ringing noise echoed through my ears.

The boy at the front rumpled his hair with an inane smirk.


	2. The Marauders

**Chapter 2**

**The Marauders**

The messy haired boy -though no-one that looked at him now could honestly call him a boy- took a step into our booth.

I watched frozen as he mussed the staring boy's hair roughly, much like one would a small child. "Hello Pete," he grinned.

'Pete' simpered back at him with painful admiration.

Wait a second. Pete? As in Peter? As in Pettigrew?

I looked back in surprise at the strange boy I had originally shared the booth with and wondered at how dimwitted I had been. Suddenly it all clicked into place.

I tried to become invisible as the wind swept newcomer surveyed the compartment, trying my best to avoid tell-tale eye contact despite desperately wanting to stare into the new faces of my old tormentors.

I was officially trapped. Stuck on the frontline of a Marauder invasion with James Potter leading his troops.

Potter took another step in and looked about ready to claim our innocent little booth.

It was while he peered around smugly that I noticed his eyes draw quickly back. The fiendish grin on his face grew broad and I felt my heart give an unpleasant leap.

But for now I was safe. His eyes it seemed were fixed directly on Lily.

"Lily flower!" he boomed, his grin large and white and suspiciously dirty.

He bit his lip briefly, still smirking. "What a pleasant surprise," he uttered, moving in as close to Lily as he could. His voice had taken on a low, gutteral, sensual quality, clearly meant for the red-head alone.

I looked away uncomfortably, almost embarrassed just to be in the same room as his display.

But Lily didn't seem to affected by his charms, in fact she looked a little repulsed.

"Shame I can't say the same about seeing you," she muttered scathingly, stepping past him to leave.

James took a split second side step, blocking her path. He cocked his head to the side, daring her with a smirk to try it again.

Lily stepped back, seemingly disgusted by his close proximity.

"Come come now, Lily," James shook his head, "there's really no need to be like that-".

Movement from behind the intolerable Potter distracted me from his ridiculous game of to and fro.

A cloaked arm reached forwards and shoved Potter sideways, moving his blockage of the doorway. "In yer own time, Prongs," came the voice, laced with equal parts of annoyance and amusement.

Potter cried out as he stumbled, before shoving the other boy back playfully. "Not in front of the Evans," he murmured through gritted teeth.

Potter's friend just barked out a laugh, clearly not the slightest bit concerned about who was privvy to their display. "Yeah, yeah," he dismissed.

It was as if time was moving in slow motion as the latest addition made his way into our now somewhat cramped compartment.

It was like an advert for men's air care as he flicked his head infinitesimally, clearing his long dark fringe from his eyes. My stomach flipped uncomfortably, I would know those keen granite eyes anywhere.

So much for the phrase 'windows to the soul', he wasn't giving anything away as he surveyed our little booth.

It was a little disappointing to find Black hadn't really changed that much, if anything he had grown into his face rather becomingly.

He'd had a hair cut since I'd seen him last; the back of his hairnow trimmed short. It looked like he hadn't let them take his precious fringe though, what else would skim his defined cheekbones?

Despite my undeniable hatred for him I had to admit his good looks were absurd. It was just a pity that his beauty reflected nothing good on the inside.

Sirius Black didn't deserve to be so attractive. He was just an empty shell, full of scorn and hatred.

He had been the worst of the lot, his quick wit making his comments all the more scathing.

The memory of them were permanently ingrained into my conscious. Like watching my own personal Pensieve, whether I wanted to or not.

One occasion that would be forever locked in the forefront of my mind occurred during third year when we were all sitting in a particularly boring Monday morning lesson. The kind that has the ability to numb even the most eager of brains within the first ten minutes.

After around half an hour Black had obviously decided things needed livening up, which may sound very public-serving until one hears just how he decided go about this.

After muttering a quiet incantation thick dark hair had started to sprout out from the quiet girl's nose and ears.

Unfortunately for me, I was that girl.

After the hundredth weird look as I made my way to dinner I remember rushing to the bathroom to find out what was going on and nearly being in tears when I realised what he'd done. Of course it was Black, it was always Black.

As if I wasn't unpopular enough.

My few friends had kindly insisted on confronting him about it, even though I had practically begged them not to. I knew it would just make it worse if they tried to stick up for me. But no, apparently they felt it was their duty- though looking back they probably just wanted an excuse to talk to the popular boys.

Outwardly I refused to go with them, but I couldn't resist listening from behind a corner.

Needless to say Black was entirely unrepentant. He actually found it highly amusing that I had only just realised and had been walking around looking like a 'Marx brother'.

He replied he didn't think I would mind much since it was impossible to look any worse than I did already.

Looking back I'd no idea why he hated me so much. It's not like I'd ever done anything to him.

At least with Snivellus there was a reason. He was an out and proud Slytherin.

But with me, all I'd done was exist.

Maybe he saw me as weak and it was repulsive to him in some way. But if he found weakness repulsive, then why did he hang around with one of the most physically and mentally weak boys in our entire school, Pettigrew?

I stared at the attractive young man he had turned into. Despite all of his good looks all I could feel for him was disdain.

It was while staring hard at him, a look of pure loathing probably evident in my eyes, that he turned around unexpectedly.

Bollocks.

His steel grey eyes met mine for the briefest of moments before I forced my face to the window.

I found myself praying to God, Merlin and every other spiritual entity that he hadn't recognised who I was.

x

I stared into the large pane of glass resolutely, studying Black through the faint reflection.

I could've kicked myself for letting him catch me staring at him. It wouldn't be long before the comments and tormenting started.

Without really realising what I was doing I held my breath, promising over and over that I would be ready. I would not take his abuse lying down anymore.

Black's reflection moved towards me even as I watched. So close it looked, until it came to a rest in the seat opposite. The reflection's eyes finally met my own.

My body started, eyes darting about in panic. With Black in the seat opposite and his gaze firmly on my reflection I had nothing to fix them on. For a brief second I even contemplated taking a long dive from the speeding train.

But when I finally plucked up the courage to look back at him I was surprised to find him just staring at me, looking slightly confused at my strange reaction if anything.

When he saw me returning his gaze he actually seemed to start a little. There was a strange expression on his face. I had never seen him look at me like that before. None of the hurtful comments or mocking demeanour I was so used to.

And then came the completely unexpected part. Slowly, but surely, the corner of his mouth turned up upward into what was undeniably a smile. Black was smiling at _me_.

I had no idea how to react. It would've been rather charming had I known it was genuine, but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of seeing me smile pleasantly back at him before he instigated one of his cruel jokes.

Instead I just looked back at him blankly before looking away. Despite my apparent calmness my pulse was stilll thumping madly.

Focusing my eyes on the flickering haze of trees and fields out of the window I tried to process what had just happened.

x

I was glad when Lily provided a distraction by finally sitting down. Had she and Potter really been arguing for that long?

She took the seat next to me, sandwiching me between herself and the window. It was something that I was immensely grateful for because it took away the risk that I would be stuck next to a Marauder for the entire journey.

Potter gave a satisfied smirk when Lily sat down and immediately took the seat next to her.

Seeing his behaviour something told me I had missed something while I was away for fifth year. It seemed he had developed somewhat of an interest in Lily.

And when I say 'somewhat of an interest', I actually mean that if he got any closer to her he would be in her lap.

Potter went on to put a casual hand on her thigh as though they'd been dating months, which from Lily's reaction they clearly had not. She 'tut'ted angrily and smacked it hard. Her slap leaving a bright red mark across his large hand.

He yelped and pulled it away immediately.

Lily snorted humourlessly. "Serves you right. Pervert."

Potter seemed to recover himself enough to reach out stroke her cheek gently. "I'll be a pervert if that's the kind of thing you're into my dear Evans."

I was dismayed to feel my own mouth twitch at this.

Black let out a small cough and I looked up to find his attention on me. He seemed entertained by the fact he had caught me laughing at my own friend.

I let my face fall quickly, but that only seemed to amuse him more. He raised an eyebrow, eyes alight with humour, and shook his head in feigned disappointment.

"_Don't_ speak to me," Lily warned Potter dangerously, clearly oblivious to Black and I. James finally put his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay. Merlin, you can be touchy."

I chanced a furtive glance at Lily. Her expression was rather pained. It was obvious she couldn't wait for the train to stop so she could just get out.

It made me wonder why she didn't just walk out right now, she didn't have to stay.

Then it hit me. She was staying for me. She didn't want to leave me alone at my tormentor's mercy. A huge rush of gratitude swept through me. If I were a fan of hugs, Lily Evans would be at the top of my list right now.

x

I vaguely noticed Remus Lupin had somehow got himself a Prefect badge.

My mind boggled at how an accessory to countless crimes could possibly deserve an award. _Oh, well done... on being completely and utterly spineless!_

He was just as bad as them.

He caught me looking and I was left in no doubt that_ he_ recognised me. I raised my eyebrow at him and felt my jaw jut out a little subconsciously, daring him to say something. His sheepish expression was actually kind of funny.

x

After what seemed like forever the train finally came to a halt.

Both Black and I stood up abruptly, almost knocking one another backwards.

Thankfully I just about managed to catch myself with an outstretched arm on the back of my chair. When I steadied myself I was surprised to find Black chivalrously gesture for me to go first.

Was this another cruel joke? Would he push me back down as soon as I tried to get past?

I eyed him warily, but after a moments deliberation decided to just go for it. I doubted he would try anything with Lily the Prefect around.

He was probably just trying to psyche me out and I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing it work.

Without so much as a glance in his direction, I trampled past him silently.

I knew that if he was being genuinely polite he would find this rude, but at that moment I just couldn't care.

"See you later Lily!" I called, purely as an after thought as I exited the room.

I had to get off that train and as far away from those four boys as I could.

x

x

"Bye!" Lily called back, doubting whether her old acquaintance had even heard her reply. It seemed she had been in somewhat of a rush to get off the train.

Sirius watched the strange girl's retreating back in complete bafflement as she tried to negotiate its way through the still-crowded corridor.

After watching her for a second his consciousness finally caught up with what had just happened.

_Never_ had he been treated in that way by a member of the opposite sex. _Especially_ when he was _so obviously_ going out of his way to be _pleasant_.

"Lily," he called, much harsher than intended.

"Hmm?" Lily replied distractedly, busy collecting up her belongings.

Sirius paused, forcing himself to adopt his usual air of indifference. "Who was your friend?"

Lily stopped to give him a look. "If you didn't know who it was why were you staring at her so much?" she smirked.

Potter started to laugh, but quickly cut it short with one glare from Sirius.

Lily rolled her eyes. "You really don't know recognise her do you?" she said shaking her head. "She _will_ be pleased."

Without another word of explanation Lily exited the train, following in her friend's footsteps.

Sirius turned to Peter, who up until that point had been scrabbling on the floor in the search for abandoned sweets, "Is it just me, or is Evans being even more cryptic than usual?" he asked.

Peter merely shrugged. "Girls," he answered, by means of explanation.

* * *

**The next chapter is Cheryl's first lesson, and she gets paired up with a certain someone. Three guesses who it will be.**


	3. Lupin

**Chapter 3**

**Lupin**

"But I thought the Beaver left Hogwart's a year ago?" James was saying to Sirius, after the latter had finally managed to convince him of her existence.

They didn't have to struggle with the crowds like Cheryl. People just seemed to part for them when they passed through.

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah, you're right, she did"

"Well maybe she's come back to finish her education here" Remus injected, as though it should be obvious.

"But why come back?" James pressed. "Everyone hated her. You'd think she'd want to stay well away. Talk about sucker for punishment."

Peter sniggered and James looked down at him as though he hadn't been expecting a laugh at this, but was pleased it had come all the same.

"She had a few friends Prongs," Remus corrected. "And I guess it's just one of those things." The disinterest at the topic was evident in his voice.

Sirius peered around the mass of people. He could see most of them quite clearly because of his height, but found no sign of Morland.

Though he would rather hug his mother than admit it out loud there had been something strangely attractive about the girl he'd met on the train. Before he had found out who she really was, obviously.

She looked like a completely different person to the Beaver he loved to hate just one year previously. No more puppy fat, big teeth or slightly orange hair. How could someone's hair just up and change colour like that?

She must have used magic, he was sure of it. No one changes that much.

He let out a quiet scoff at the absurdity of it all. Him, attracted to the Beaver. The idea was ridiculous. She'd caused him to unwittingly lower himself in trying to charm her on the train.

Sirius Black did not fancy beavers, even attractive ones.

Things were going to be fun now that she was back, that was for sure.

x

x

I lay on my bed that night and looked out of the Dormitory window. My first night back.

The dark sky looked really peaceful and clear.

The stars had always seemed brighter around Hogwart's than anywhere else and I'd never been sure if it was the result of a charm or just a natural phenomenon.

Whatever it was it was helpfully calming after my rather stressful first day back at good old Hogwarts.

I just couldn't _believe_ I was actually back.

The place even smelt the same. A slightly musty, sweet smell that you often get in old buildings. Or really old books.

I looked around at my roomates, all of them fast asleep by now.

I'd met most of them briefly before lights out. So far I was pleased -and a little surprised- that I actually really liked all of them. Though I realised that would probably change. I wasn't a natural people pleaser.

For a start I now had no idea whatsoever of their names. Oops.

They told me, but I just kind of blanked.

I was too focused on smiling and trying to be friendly. I really hoped that oversight didn't come back to bite me on the rear later on.

One good thing was the fact that like Lily not one of them seemed to recognise me from fourth year and my time spent known as 'the Beaver'.

I wasn't about to fill them in either.

Yeah right, 'Oh you remember, I was the geek with the big teeth and freckles, but you may know me better as the Marauder's favourite target.'

I actually wanted to make friends, not scare them away.

I was under no allusion that if I was to admit that the Marauder's used to pick on me everyone would avoid me like the plague.

No-one wants to be unpopular by association.

They did say they were going to have a bit of a midnight party in our dorm room sometime that week though.

Apparently it was so we could all get to know one another properly, which should be interesting to say the least.

I just really hoped they didn't ask about my love life, or lack thereof. It wouldn't exactly show me in a good light and I both wanted and needed some new friends.

It had felt so awkward when I'd spoken to the girls I had hung around with back in fourth year.

I'd joined them briefly in the common room after Sorting and the feast and again they hadn't recognised me at first.

But it seemed that after the first enthusiastic 'hellos' and 'how've you been's' I pretty much just sat there in silence and watched them gossip about the year I'd missed and all of the amazing things they had done together in the holidays.

I glanced at the clock now. '1.03AM'. Wow, it was getting late.

x

The next morning I made my way to Professor Slughorn's classroom.

None of my roommates were in that lesson and my heart was already fluttering uncomfortably with nerves.

It was my first lesson at Hogwart's for over a year and I had no-one to cling to.

But I didn't need anyone. _Be strong, be strong, be strong_. I chanted it over and over in my mind in the hope that it might finally stick.

Mostly I was worried about everyone else's reaction to me coming back more so than the lesson itself.

I just prayed to God that they didn't remember the Beaver.

Just as my hand grasped the wooden door knob of the Potions room door a light hand on my shoulder stopped me in my tracks. My nerves already on edge I must have jumped a mile. I turned abruptly, not having heard anyone approach.

My heart stopped in it's tracks when I saw who it was.

"Hello love," the figure spoke in my close vicinity, apparently finding scaring me highly amusing. Sirius Black stood before me, his height and ridiculously undeserved good looks forming quite an imposing figure.

The way his lips wrapped themselves around the words brought unexpected tingles streaming down my body, his voice brimming with unspoken innuendo.

I was admittedly struck dumb for a moment and before I could respond he took a step away from me. "Welcome back Cheryl," he said, a knowing smirk playing across his face.

Before I could think of a response, witty or otherwise he shot me a wink and breezed past through the Potions room door, rudely closing it behind him. Well, I could officially be left in no doubt that he now knew exactly who I was.

I cursed at how he had already managed to get one over on me. Sirius Black, one, Beaver, zero. But I would even the score if it killed both of us.

Taking a deep breath I walked determinedly into the classoom, attempting to fake the confidence I obviously didn't feel.

Even though I'd gotten there early, the class was already almost full due to first day enthusiasm.

I could already feel the many eyes on me as a new student and knew Black's was amongst them somewhere. A foolish thought that I was walking abnormally shot it's way into my head and in a desperate bid to avert attention I ducked behind a table and pretended to tie my nonexistent shoelace.

After a second the faint hum of conversation started up again and I knew it was finally safe to resurface. They were wrapped up in their own worlds once again.

I took the opportunity of everyone's attention being distracted to scan the room for a seat. It was hard to see clearly what with most of the people choosing to stand rather than take their stools.

Finally I spotted an empty table of two. The wash of relief in my chest was indescribable at this small mercy.

Gratefully I took the seat and was finally able to look around the room properly without feeling as though I was the centre of attention.

The room itself was still much the same as I remembered it back in fourth year.

Oddly it had always felt rather cheery, considering it was full of rather sinister looking vials and potions marked with skull and cross bone symbols.

The glistening liquids from the beakers scattered around the shelves caused shards of light to dance across the dark walls. Much like the inside of a swimming pool really, and there was something strangely comforting about it.

My eyes skimmed the relatively small classroom absentmindedly.

I felt my heart skip a beat as I glimpsed a familiar group of boys.

Over in the corner of the room sat the Marauders.

I'm ashamed to say I did a double take at them. All four of them were sat together, laughing and joking amongst themselves.

The majority of them were too wrapped up in playing a rather exuberant game of catch with a deadly looking black potion. All except one.

I realised afterward that he must have already been looking at me when I spotted him, because his eyes were already fixed on mine as I caught them.

It was Lupin.

Acting reflexively I immediately looked away, noticing that my heart rate had already increased to a fast paced _thud thud thud_ in my chest.

I wondered at the power those four boys held over the reactions in my body. Even their mere presence could incite a near heart attack.

From that moment on I kept my eyes trained to the front of the class, refusing the urge to turn around again. Would he still be looking at me if I did?

I could've physically vaulted over the tables and hugged Slughorn when he waddled his way in beaming genially. Yes, hugged.

The portly teacher caught my eye as he took a seat at his desk and nodded to let me know that he was aware of my presence.

Dumbledore had obviously already told the staff of my return to the school, something I was extremely grateful for.

Then he was speaking. But all I could make out were senseless words.

Without fully realising my mind was now occupied with replaying the scene between Lupin and myself. There had been something strange about his eyes.

They were full of something. An emotion perhaps. But I wasn't sure what.

Loathing? Pity? …Or something else entirely?

I vaguely noticed that Slughorn's mouth was still moving and I tried my best to zone back in.

"Get into pairs" he boomed.

Hold on. What?

x

_Oh my God. Oh my God_.

I looked around helplessly as each member of the class excitedly paired themselves up with their friends.

I had no partner. I was sat by myself. This was going to get embarrassing.

But Slughorn let out a grim smile as he watched the hubbub around him.

"_I_ will be choosing your pairs" he stated.

I felt a sick pleasure as the excited voices cut off abruptly and were followed by disappointed groans. A few of the girls who had been linking arms happily now let them fall limply to their sides.

I happened to glance over at Black in the corner and it hit me somewhat belatedly what would be far worse than being by myself.

But surely my luck wasn't _that _bad?

Slughorn picked up the sheet of seemingly innocent parchment that listed all of the future pairs.

He read them off, chuckling with the rest of the class when some names seemed to warrant groans from one or both of the partners obviously discontent with the professor's choice of partner for them.

I tried to join in but my throat felt suddenly dry. I knew in the back of my mind that my own name would probably secure the same chuckle from Slughorn.

I listened intently to the names being listed off, dreading the inevitable.

"Rosemary Jordan and Edward Davies"

"Sally Sparrow and Sirius Black"

My heart soared briefly, and I had to bite my lip hard to prevent myself from outwardly smiling. One down, three to go.

I chanced a glance at Black to see his reaction to the girl because no-one ever seemed good enough for him.

But I was surprised to find that he gave hardly any reaction at all, merely nodding his head in a kind of lazy shrug.

I watched intently as a blonde girl, who I could only presume was Sally, got up from her seat and made her way over to Black because he was too arrogant to move.

She didn't look too pleased that she was being paired with him, but maybe that was just my imagination.

While I had been focused on her, I realised that I had missed a few of the names being called out.

Had my name been mentioned and whoever it was, was now waiting for me to go over to them?

I listened again but could not hear my name.

Suddenly I heard the chair scrape out next to me and a masculine form take his seat.

I peeked up warily and found my eyes meet with warm amber. My breath caught in my throat.

I _had_ missed my name.

It was Lupin. I was partnered with Lupin.

I vaguely heard him mutter a weak hello, but I didn't have the coherency to reply.

My eyes were still wide even when he had moved his attention back to the front of the class. He ran his hands through his hair, pushing it back off his face.

He was just so close. I could practically smell his deoderant.

His presence seemed large and even slightly intimidating in this vicinity. How on earth was I going to work with him? I could barely look him in the eye.

I vaguely wondered what his reaction had been upon learning he was to be my partner. I really hoped it hadn't warranted a groan and a laugh from the class.

If only I hadn't been so distracted.

x

When the Potions master had finally stopped speaking there was a slight awkward pause where Lupin and I were both putting off the inevitable.

We would actually have to talk to one another.

I couldn't forget the way he had always just looked on in silence as his friend's tormented me. Occasionally shooting me a pitying glance once they had moved on.

It was because of this that I felt both angry and embarrassed by his presence now.

No matter how much I had changed on the outside he still knew the real me. I didn't want to be pitied or patronised because of who he presumed I still was.

Finally he turned to me and I tried to sit up straight.

"Shall we get started?" he tried to ask casually.

Oh yeah. We were supposed to be making an age reversal serum. It sounded cooler than it was. It only worked on small things like flowers and insects.

I gave him a brief, non-committal shrug, "Why not?" I replied would-be breezily.

I think he could tell I was still a bit off with him because he gave me a funny look.

Before things could get anymore awkward I got up quickly, making for Slughorn's desk where he'd laid the ingredients out.

When I got back to our table Lupin had set out all of the apparatus.

I started to put the ingredients into the cauldron in silence.

I had nothing to say to him and for once I didn't feel bad for the awkwardness, or like I had to make forced polite conversation to ease it as I usually did in such situations. It was his fault. He had been the bully, not me.

So instead I busied myself with the Potion, following the instructions on the board.

I started to count the drops of bat dung into the already bubbling liquid. They fizzed satisfyingly.

In my peripheral vision I was surprised to see Lupin rolling his eyes. Had that been aimed at me?

Slightly taken aback, I looked at him more fully.

No, I realised it hadn't been directed at me at all.

His gaze was focused on something on the other side of the room. Or rather, someone.

I watched on as Potter smirked at Lupin from across the classroom and held up a finger for him to 'hold on', before turning his back to us.

Intrigued now, I dropped all pretence of working on the Potion and watched openly.

Watched as Potter wrapped his arms around the upper half of his body and-

Started to hug himself. And I don't just mean hug, it looked like he was going to second base.

He made appropriate smooching sounds as his hands moved erratically up and down his own back.

Then followed the bit I had been dreading.

As if in slow motion he turned back around, grinning inanely, before nodding his head suggestively toward Remus and myself.

Black and most of the class -who had of course been watching Potter's little display- laughed loudly.

Without thinking, I slammed the small petri dish of dung onto the table.

What was so wrong with me that it would be highly amusing if Lupin and I did get along?

The dung I had practically flung onto the table jumped out of its shallow container with the sheer force and flew up the front of Lupin's clothes.

His arm shot out comically in surprise.

I heard the faint gasp from the class.

My eyes met with the other Marauders and I was shocked to find them all laughing uproariously at their faeces-covered friend. Even Pettigrew.

Seeing Potter and Black laughing gave the go ahead to a few more chuckles from the rest of the class.

I muttered a brief apology to Lupin and sat down.

He sighed and looked a bit annoyed, but still managed an, "It's ok"

I watched him as he tried to brush the small pellets of dung from his lap.

He was doing it rather forcefully and honestly, I half expected one of them to-

Smear.

He'd done it.

A long streak of excretement now ran all down the length of his thigh.

He groaned as he took in what he had done.

Before I could stop myself I felt the recognisable distinct bubble of laughter form in my chest. No sooner had it arrived it was pushing its way out of my mouth.

Lupin's head shot up in shock that I, of all people, would laugh at him. I noticed with some surprise that his face had a faint tinge of pink from embarrassment.

It made me feel a little guilty and I pressed my lips together trying to suppress my amusement.

It was a relief when I saw the beginnings of a smile start to tug at his own mouth.

We both looked from his soiled trousers to each other's faces.

He gestured to the smudge. "You think this is funny?"

I just pressed my lips together again and gave him a look that said, 'kinda, sorry'.

He dropped his head and let out a breathy laugh. Shaking it he looked back up at me again and muttered,

"Fine. But now we're even."

The entire class was laughing at him because of something I had done. He was embarrassed.

If only it could've happened to Black. Seeing him walk around with bat crap on his clothes would've made my year.

Lupin held his hand out in some sort of truce.

"Actually, I might pass on the handshake," I said, motioning to the leftovers on his trousers.

"Ah, I see. Maybe later then," he replied.

"Yeah. Later."

I couldn't believe I was actually considering it, but maybe Remus wasn't that bad after all. Maybe he just had a bad choice in friends.

"Here, let me fix that for you," I offered, glancing at his ruined trousers.

Remus waved a submissive hand, "By all means."

I muttered the cleaning spell and the dung obediently vanished.

"Not just a pretty face is she?" A foreign voice brought me out of my comfort zone and pulled my stomach hard into my mouth.

Yet again I hadn't seen him approach, but then I wouldn't put it past Black not to have some sort of invisibility cloak or something.

He stood there watching us with feigned interest, the same smug expression playing across his face. It was like he always knew something nobody else did.

I watched in a mixture of disgust and horrid anticipation as he rested his elbows on Remus's shoulders.

"Leave it please, Sirius," Remus muttered, remembering our truce, but he kept his eyes down on his text book.

Black just snorted and walked, no, _strutted_, around the table until he faced me head on.

Casually he dragged a stool from behind him and flopped himself onto it.

Making himself comfortable, he made a gesture with his hand. "Pray, continue."

Remus looked a little disconcerted, glancing up now at his friend. "What?"

"Just carry on with your conversation," Black explained, a self satisfied smirk residing on his face. He rocked back on his chair arrogantly and I inwardly willed him to fall on his backside. "Pretend I'm not here."

He looked directly at me, a challenge in his eyes.

_Easier said than done with your fat head in the way, you arrogant arse,_ I thought violently.

"Sirius..." Remus murmured.

Black dropped his chair back down and rested his head on his hands. "What?" he replied with an air of innocence, but his eyes lit up mischievously.

Remus just gave him a look that said, 'you know what'.

But Black just shrugged and stared right back at him. "Well, you seemed to be getting along famously from what I could see, so I was just intrigued as to just what she had to say that was so _riveting_." He laughed to himself.

I sighed tiredly, "Why are you always such an arrogant berk, Black?"

My eyes widened as I realised what I had said. One minute I had been thinking it then the next thing I knew it had slipped out.

Black's face was an absolute picture.

His eyes narrowed, pinning me to the chair with their piercing grey glare. "Excuse me?" he asked, all traces of humour momentarily wiped from his face.

The familiar thrill of adrenalin coursed it's way through my body, thankfully unnoticeble to anyone but myself. I tried my best to remain nonchalant.

I looked back at him unsure of whether to repeat what I had said or just shut my mouth altogether. But I had already promised to stick up for myself this year and honestly it was just oh so tempting- "I said- why are you so arrogant, _Black_?" I emphasised the last word, imitating his haughty expression.

Time seemed to stand still, but finally Black's annoyingly perfect lips moved to form an answer.

Thank God the rest of the class were too wrapped up in their own conversations to hear what was divulging. This wasn't going to be pretty.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading. A special thank you to those who take the time to review, you are fantastic. **


	4. 3,2,1

**Chapter 4**

**3, 2... 1**

Black clapped his hands together in an applause made of up of himself alone. It made some of the other students in the class crane their necks in a bid to see what was going on.

"Bravo!" he exclaimed, the amused expression set firmly back on his face. "The mute has finally spoken up for herself," he continued. "I had half a mind that you would go Carrie on us and burn us all to death at the end of year ball." He snorted to himself.

I stared back at him coldly. I didn't find anything he was saying remotely funny and wanted nothing more than to permanently wipe that smirk from off his stupid face.

Black brought his body forward on his chair and I automatically leaned back. He stared straight into my eyes.

"Just because you don't look like a Beaver anymore, doesn't mean you can beat me," his voice was a mere octave above a whisper.

"What are you talking about?" I hissed. "Beat you? This isn't a game."

"Isn't it?" he asked as if I was a naive child. "Life's a game Morland, and you've just started to play with the big boys. Hope you're ready."

He flashed his pearly whites at me in what would have looked to a bystander like nothing more than charming grin, but I knew better.

"Whatever Black," I shrugged it off. "I don't want to play any kind of game with you."

He brought his face alarmingly close to mine and smirked, "'Course you don't."

He raised an eyebrow, studying my face in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. "Woah, even your eyes are weird," he noticed, shaking his head. "Have you seen them Moony?" he questioned. "One's green and one's brown. Like a dog.

Woof," he taunted me, starting to laugh at his own joke before trailing off as though a thought had occured to him. Black frowned at me.

He caught Remus's eye and they shared a knowing look for reasons I couldn't even begin to fathom.

What the heck were they on?

Reaching out a large hand Black guided my face back around to his, as if trying to read my mind. It was impossible to fathom what was going on behind his gaze and it unnerved me, but I couldn't seem to break his stare.

I saw a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. He obviously thought he had me right where he wanted me.

He grazed his knuckles past my cheek and stroked my hair back so tenderly it was hard to believe it was the same taunting person as a minute ago. Without another word, or a thought of what any onlookers would be thinking, he pulled his face closer to mine. His fathomless grey eyes moved their way down to my lips as if he were about to, well, kiss me.

I froze visibly, instinctively pushing away the hand that rested on my cheek.

He let out that bark of a laugh of his before backing away completely and lifting his long lean body from the stool.

Yet again he winked at me and I realised that this really was a game, and I was Sirius Black's latest choice of chew toy. He had been seeing how far I would let him go. He knew the effect he had on the opposite sex and he was testing how badly I had it for him. I hope it proved what an intense dislike I had for the annoyingly arrogant pig.

He smirked at Remus as though they both knew something I didn't, but Remus looked back at him seriously. "Just leave it now Padfoot" he muttered quietly.

Black laughed again, clapping a hand on Remus's shoulder from across the table. "Oh dear Moony, you have it worse than I realised."

I grimaced, wishing he would stop teasing Remus about liking me. I knew it would make the sandy haired boy start to feel bitter towards me if he carried on.

"''Til we meet again" Sirius said skimming his eyebrows at me.

He gave a brief salute to Remus, "Later, Moony."

With that he was gone.

Remus turned to me with a serious face, and I half expected him to say something about what had happened. I could barely meet his eyes.

But instead he shot me a grim smile and motioned to the cauldron we had been working on, "I think our potion's ruined."

I looked at our now clotted age reversal serum and gave a weak smile. It really did look awful.

I let Remus start mixing up another one and allowed my mind to replay what had happened with Black.

He had been mocking me, I know he had, and because he wasn't doing it verbally anymore there was nothing I could do about it.

I was just so inexperienced sexually that by targeting that area he had found my weak point.

I just hoped he hadn't realised his advantage.

x

x

"You know what I think?" Sirius chimed cheerfully as he made his way back over to his desk.

James glanced up and gave a brief shrug, "What?"

"I reckon that Morland girl's as pure as a nun in a convent."

James furrowed his brows, snorting at the strangeness of his friend's words.

"What?" he repeated, laughter evident in his voice.

"Well, I only had to come within a foot of her just and she was moving back as though I was about to snog her face off."

James laughed. "Maybe she just hated the thought of being close to you."

Sirius scoffed, "Look at me Prongs, what girl could resist?"

James laughed again and slapped his friend on the back, "Whatever you say mate."

"No, but seriously," Sirius continued, "I don't reckon she's had any experience with the better sex."

"Well, maybe you should make it your duty to corrupt her innocence then Pad."

Sirius pulled a face.

James furrowed his brow at his friends reaction, "She's not _bad_-looking Sirius."

James grinned slyly, "Actually, she's really quite attractive now."

"I suppose" Sirius agreed reluctantly.

James pushed his friend playfully, "So, go for it then!"

Sirius laughed and shook his head, swatting a hand out to push James back. "She's more trouble than she's worth Prongs. But I suppose I could have a little fun making her feel uncomfortable."

"That's the spirit."

x

x

The common room was nearly empty that night and I was thankful. I just wanted to go and sit by myself somewhere and wallow in my own self-pity.

My second day at Hogwarts had _not_ turned out as planned.

So far I'd thrown bat crap over Remus, had an argument with Black (which I had a nasty feeling he had won), and spoiled my very first age reversal potion.

The only thing I could be grateful for was at least now Remus and I were on speaking terms.

He really wasn't so bad. At least he had managed to laugh about the dung incident afterwards. Not every boy would.

Just as I was about to take one of the empty chairs by the window I heard my name being called. Strange, I hadn't seen anyone I recognised.

I turned around to the source of the voice, wondering who could possibly know my name when I obviously didn't know them.

There was a small group of girls I vaguely recognised from my Dormitory sitting around a small table to one side. I hadn't seen them when I had walked in. For some reason they had taken seats in the most shadowy part of the room.

When they saw me looking they beckoned me over with excited grins.

I walked slowly over to them. Their excitement was strangely contagious even though I had no idea what it was about.

The brown haired girl to my right pulled me down into the spare seat. I recognised her as the girl from the bed next to mine, but couldn't remember her name.

Marl-a? Mar…Crap, I couldn't think. Mar- something.

Wait. Marlene! Ha!

I looked around briefly at the two other faces. I recognised Dorcas opposite me -she'd been really friendly when we'd met last night- and there was another blonde girl on my left, but I was fairly sure she wasn't in my Dorm room.

Strangely though, her face did seem extremely familiar. I quickly ran through my brief time at the school so far inside my head, pushing the snippets of unfocused images along.

I'd got it. She had been Sirius's partner in Potions.

Sally something, wasn't it?

"This is Sally Sparrow," Marlene quickly explained, gesturing to the blonde girl.

Sally smiled pleasantly at me and did a little salute-like wave.

I saw her eyebrows furrow as she took my face in, "Hold on, weren't you in my Potions class?"

Wow, she actually remembered me.

I smiled back and nodded, "Yeah."

Her smile grew to a knowing grin, "You were the one who-"

I grimaced as I realised what she was on about and held up a hand to stop her, "Yeah, I was."

Sally laughed and shook her head slightly, "Remus's face was a picture."

I couldn't help but laugh.

Marlene and Dorcas looked at one another questioningly.

Deciding that neither had a clue what we were going on about, Marlene cut in.

"Hang on a minute. You can't just mention random sections of what sounds like a juicy story without expecting us to want to know details."

Dorcas nodded in agreement.

"So tell us Cheryl, just what did you do to Remus?" Marlene raised her eyebrows suggestively making everyone laugh.

"If you're expecting _that_ kind of juice I think you're going to be disappointed," I grinned.

I bit my lip, not really wanting to have to tell any more people about the embarrassing incident.

"She threw bat droppings at him," Sally interjected, as if it were something one did everyday.

There was a stunned silence before both Dorcas and Marlene gave confused laughs.

"Bat droppings?"

I nodded. "It was an accident though."

"You should've seen it" Sally laughed. "It went all over him. The whole class was in tears."

Marlene looked strangely impressed. Dorcas just covered her mouth with her fingers and shook her head.

"Poor Remus," she muttered, even though I could hear the laughter in her voice.

Marlene motioned to me, "In that case I'm going to let you join in with our little game."

Dorcas furrowed her eyebrows, "We were going to ask her to come with us anyway. That's what we called her over for."

Marlene waved an impatient hand, "Yeah, but now we know for definite she can _handle it_."

She stressed the last two words and flashed her eyes in what I think was supposed to look mystically.

Dorcas snorted, "Yes…"

I asked her what they were planning, wondering what on earth it could be that it was a bonus I'd covered someone in bat dung.

Marlene looked a bit sheepish. "_Technically_, we haven't decided yet"

Dorcas rolled her eyes.

"But it will be good," Marlene assured, giving her friend a look. "We're just brainstorming at the moment."

"Oh." Well, at least tonight had the prospect of being fun. I was grateful for any escape after the day I'd just had.

Dorcas pushed a piece of scrap parchment towards me. Sure enough there was one solitary idea at the top in tiny writing.

_'Let off a dungbomb in the boys bedroom.'_

Not the most imaginative of ideas.

"Let's do it then," I shrugged. In all honesty I don't think I expected them to actually agree, but at that moment I was feeling a little uninspired by my current state of life.

I just wanted to do _something_. Anything would've been appealing.

Sure enough Dorcas shook her head, "We can't. There are too many people around." All talk and no action. I was sick of that.

I scanned the room. There was a dozen at the most.

"Not that many," I insisted.

Marlene looked at me as though deep in thought. "You know what, you're right. Where's your sense of adventure Dorcas?"

Marlene turned to Sally, who had been fairly quiet on the topic until now.

"What do you think, Sal?"

Sally bit the inside of her cheek and seemed to think on it for a second.

"I think let's do it."

Marlene tapped the table excitedly with her hand and grinned, "That's the spirit!"

That was a quick turnaround! Was this really going to happen...?

x

A quarter of an hour later and we were indeed sneaking up the stairs to the sixth year boys' dormitory.

And let's put it this way, if one of them ever got lost on his way back there he could always just follow his nose -with or without the stink bomb.

Marlene had insisted we wear pink balaclavas for disguise, because 'all the best secret agents wore them'.

In all honesty I thought we looked more like a gang of really girly bank robbers, but I didn't say anything.

Not for the first time since I had been back at Hogwart's could I hear my heart hammering inside of my chest. But this was different. This felt suspiciously like excitement.

I could sense Sally just behind me and I turned around to meet her.

We both surveyed the mess of the boys' room. It was ridiculous. It was only the second night and it already looked as though a tornado had passed through it.

Sally pinched her nose between her thumb and forefinger and pretended to swoon from the smell, making me snort.

It smelt like a mixture of dirty laundry and over-powerful, stale aftershave.

Dorcas was the last into the room and I could see the stench hit her like a slap in the face. "Blooming heck," she exclaimed. "Do you think they'll even notice the smell of the Dungbombs over this?"

"Whose room is this, anyway?" I asked. I was sure none of the boys I knew of could smell this badly.

Marlene smirked, not answering my question. That wasn't a good sign and I must've pulled an anxious face.

Sally just laughed. "Come on, get your ammo out."

Obediently we all followed suit, each picking out one from our pockets.

To me Dungbombs looked like an over-stuffed teabag. There was a small cap on top that ripped off and then you'd have five minutes grace before it exploded into a cloud of putridness.

"Ready girls?" Marlene asked. Her voice was a bit muffled from the balaclava, but her blue eyes were gleaming brightly.

She put a whole knew meaning to the term, 'evil glint'. She actually looked rather manic, but in a funny sort of way. Possibly because I was in on the joke.

"After three?" I asked, my breathing slow and heavy.

They nodded.

"3, 2…1" We chorused the one and tore at the caps furiously, throwing the bombs onto the boys beds.

There was a pause where we all looked at one another, not quite believing what we had just done.

As if in the far distance, I heard Marlene's voice shout, "Run!"

As if they had been waiting for that command, my legs finally woke up and I ran with the rest of the girls as we bolted to the door.

I had just gotten halfway down the stairs when I plunged headfirst into a tall, hard pillar.

Strong arms caught me around my waist as I tried to push past and it shouted down the stairs, "Pete, Mike, stop the others"

I had been caught.

The pillar picked me up roughly around my waist and carried me back into the room. This was not good.


	5. Caught

**'Caught'**

I squirmed against the pillars grasp, trying to prise his fingers from around my waist.

It was no use. I hated to admit it, but whoever it was was far stronger than myself.

He just carried on up the stairs as if holding nothing more than a bad tempered pet cat.

Once he'd gotten me back inside the bedroom he set my feet firmly on the floor. Almost immediately after being dropped I swivelled around, heading blindly for the exit. I couldn't be caught. This wasn't supposed to have happened.

But a large figure by the door slammed it shut before I could get within a metre, "Nah ah ah."

Shit.

I was going to start hyperventilating. I could already feel my breath getting harder to take.

I could barely see anything with the stupid balaclava on, yet I didn't want to take it off. I didn't want to reveal my identity. What would my capturers think when they saw it was the quiet girl who had broken into their bedroom. The thought made my face burn. I was trapped, they _were_ going to find out.

I turned back into the room and just about made out two smaller figures standing together about a foot away from me. It was Marlene and Sally.

They had been caught too. My breathing immediately calmed. Thank Merlin.

I know it sounded selfish, but I couldn't even bear to imagine how traumatic it would be if I was on my own.

I walked quickly over to them and Sally held a hand out for me. It was we three against our three capturers now.

I still had no idea who had caught us. Only that two of their names were Mike and Pete from when I'd heard the pillar shout to them. But who was the pillar?

I watched as the tall nameless figure advanced towards us.

"Care to explain what you girls were doing in _our_ dormitory?"

His voice sounded oddly amused considering he'd just caught four masked females in the same space as he kept his boxers.

The playful tones sounded familiar. My heart sank. It couldn't be...

Marlene spoke up first, the most confident of us all.

"You'll find out soon enough" Her voice had the same amused tone to it, and I could tell she was smirking without even looking. _Was_ this funny? Was I just taking it all too seriously?

As if on cue I felt the familiar bubbles of nervous laughter in my chest pressing to get out, but I swallowed them hastily. I didn't want to draw attention to myself.

A high-pitched male voice cut though the air. I could tell straight away it was Pettigrew. No other boy squeaked quite like him. I underwent a seconds realisation as I figured out 'Pete' must've been Peter Pettigrew.

"You don't think they've gone through our belongings do you?"

He sounded worried.

I distinctly heard the pillar scoff, "Why, what are you worried they've found? You haven't been wearing women's underwear again have you Peter? We've had this discussion before, don't bring your perversions into our dormitory." The laughter was evident in his response. I _definitely_ recognised that laugh.

The third boy, 'Mike' spoke for the first time and stopped Pettigrew from giving an answer.

"Let's take their masks off." His voice lacked the warmth of the first one. It was harder. It actually made me feel a little uneasy.

I listened with baited breath as my friends' covers were blown and their names shouted out.

"McKinnon! Sparrow!"

I felt my particular capturer step forwards and pull my mask off. He let out a surprised, "Morland?"

I closed my eyes briefly and groaned. James Potter. The pillar. I had been caught by bloody Potter.

Just my luck to end up in the Marauders little den. Well, at least that explained the smell.

His grin faltered as he took in my face, but an even stronger one soon replaced it. He started laughing and whacked my shoulder boisterously with his hand, causing me stumble. "Morland!"

Yep, it's me. I could feel my face burning under everyones gaze.

From the corner of my eye I saw Sally and Marlene give one another a look. They were probably wondering why Potter was acting like this towards me. Funnily enough, so did I. It was like we were old friends.

We heard a faint clicking in the background and Marlene, Sally and I all looked at one another thinking the same thing. We had about 20 seconds to get out before we smelt like the inside of a sewer.

Marlene instantly made to run out but the third boy I hadn't even seen until today, Mike, caught her mid-step. "You're not going anywhere 'til you-"

_Poof! _

A cloud of noxious gas erupted before he had a chance to tell Marlene just what she had to do.

Great.

x

x

_An hour later…_

"What in the name of all that is holy is that _smell_?" Sirius asked with a grimace, pulling the bottom of his shirt up to protect his nose.

Sirius had not walked up the stairs to his Dormitory only to have his nostrils assaulted by the smell of rotting fish. "I thought we told Peter to put his used undies in the wash?"

James sniggered but did not look up, seeming to be more preoccupied with a piece of parchment he was currently writing almost furiously on. "Dungbombs" came his simple reply.

Sirius decided to temporarily ignore that strange snippet of an answer since James did not appear to be particularly forthcoming with the details on just _how_ their room came to smell like said Dungbombs.

Instead he motioned toward Mike who was sat on his bed looking extremely moody. "So what's up with him?" he asked.

Finally James set the parchment to one side and glanced from his friend to the sulky blond across the room with an amused gleam in his eyes.

"They exploded on _his_ bed" he stated, visibly holding back a laugh as he said it.

It became impossible to hold his chuckles back for long however when Sirius himself began to smirk, and the two boys relinquished trying to be discreet and began to laugh openly at Mike's misfortune.

Mike glowered sourly back at them.

The two friends exchanged a mutual look of amusement before James added, "And that's not the best of it. You'll never guess who we caught setting them off."

Sirius walked to James's bed and plopped down casually on the end.

"McGonagall?"

James laughed at the image. "Close, but no. McKinnon, Sparrow and _Morland_."

Sirius's eyes widened, "_Beaver_?"

James nodded and laughed disbelievingly at the memory. "I caught her with my own two hands." He held them up as if in proof.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Didn't know she had it in her" he stated, a little impressed.

"I know, right!" James exclaimed. "It's like a completely different person, but one that just happens to go by the same name. She doesn't even look like she used to."

"Invasion of the body snatchers," Sirius muttered, remembering an old fashioned Muggle film he'd once watched.

James furrowed his eyebrows slightly as an impossible memory came back to him. A smirk soon crept onto his face. "Is it just me, or did you used to fancy her in second year?"

Sirius rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Unfortunately." The memory of it physically pained him.

James laughed, "Knew I remembered you telling me once when we were all in Charms!"

Sirius thought back, "Think she was the first girl I ever liked like that. Then she came back after Easter break in third year-"

"-Looking like a water mammal." James finished.

Sirius snorted. "Hm" he replied simply. He had unfortunately made the mistake of telling people about his first crush on a pretty young girl called Cheryl Morland, even planning on asking her out on the first day back after the holiday.

Except that when she came back she had _changed. _Understatement. Sirius wasn't sure if it was the adverse effects of puberty or whether she'd had a face and body transplant during the holiday, but she looked nothing like the girl he had deigned to develop his thirteen year old feelings for.

That was the first and last time Sirius had ever allowed himself to be on the receiving end of mocking comments. It was only because of James's popularity on the Quidditch team that he ever managed to live it down.

After that he had taken his injured Black pride out on the unsuspecting girl, who had never been given any idea what she had done wrong.

"She's not too bad now though, Padfoot" James tried. "Even Mike over there said he wouldn't mind 'giving her one'"

Sirius looked dubious. "Prongs, Mike would give Moaning Myrtle 'one' if she'd let him."

James looked at Sirius, "I know you're joking, but I actually think he may have tried that."

Sirius grinned.

"Anyway, enough of Mike's conquests. Anything in mind to get the little _darlings_ back for making our room smell even more like Pete's underwear?"

James held up the parchment he had been working on earlier with a mischievous look on his face. "Funny you should say that."

x

x

I showered the next morning for the third time since I had been covered from head to toe in essence of Dungbomb last night and still the stench of bins clung to me.

I don't think Potter could quite get over the fact that I had been in on the prank.

It was a strange atmosphere as we had all made our way down to the showers immediately afterwards.

He hadn't seemed to focus on just how badly we had made his room smell. He just kept laughing and saying he would get us back for it.

I was surprised at just how laid back he was over the whole thing actually, and Pettigrew was ok if Potter was ok.

Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for Mike.

I'd had to stifle a laugh as the cloud of stink had cleared and he'd realised that most of the Dungbombs had been on his bed.

He was furious.

Marlene kept telling him he should 'learn to take a joke', but he insisted he was going to McGonagall about it.

Potter had somehow managed to convince him otherwise. Reminded him we would all lose out in the long run if she started taking house points off.

I think there may be more to James Potter than I originally thought. We'd see though. It was hard to just forgive and forget over one good deed after almost three years worth of bullying.

I wasn't too bothered about the threat of a punishment anyway. For once in my life I'd actually felt included last night. A part of something fun. I would've gladly gone through fifty detentions for that. Well, not _gladly_ exactly, and not _fifty_ so much, but you get the idea.

x

I got dressed and quickly dried my hair. I'm not sure why, but I decided to make a special effort with today. Maybe it was because I was happier than I'd been in a long time and wanted my appearance to reflect my mood.

I straightened out the loose curls my hair usually formed and actually felt quite pleased with the result. It looked nice. I just hoped the day ahead didn't let me down.

After meeting up with Marlene, Sally, Dorcas and Lily, we headed down to breakfast.

On the way there Marlene, Sally, Dorcas and I couldn't stop ourselves from laughing again at the fact that three out of the four Dungbombs we'd thrown had managed to land on Mikes bed. It was as if we'd had some sort of subconscious vendetta against him.

Even Lily had allowed herself a brief giggle as Marlene told her what we'd done. All credit to her she at least tried to uphold her Prefect duties somewhat by saying 'we really shouldn't have done it', but I could tell her heart wasn't in it.

We took a seat at the breakfast table and as I looked at the mass of food on display found myself unusually famished.

I'd just skewed my first piece of bacon eagerly when a loud sniff coming from directly behind us caused me to jump and drop the fork.

Potter laughed at the reaction his idiocy had produced and strolled around to face us.

He wrinkled his nose deliberately before turning to Remus and Pettigrew, "Ergh, can you boys smell something?"

Remus rolled his eyes, but Pettigrew just giggled.

Potter stifled a grin as he looked at us, "I do believe one of these girls has turned sour."

He laughed loudly as Marlene reached out a hand to slap him hard, but he dodged the assault easily.

He glanced at Lily as he took a seat directly next to her, leaning his head toward her and sniffing the air between them with a grin. "I'm pleased to find my little flower smells as sweet as ever."

Lily just took a mouthful of cereal and shot him an unimpressed look. "Get your foul nostrils away from me Potter. I only washed this morning."

Potter laughed and I could tell by his face that he thought any attention from Lily was good attention.

For some reason I wasn't half as anxious as I normally would've been in the presence of three Marauders.

Maybe it was because Black was conspicuously missing. Or maybe it was because I no longer felt like I had to deal with them on my own. Knowing I had the four girls sitting with me gave me a hidden strength.

Maybe I really was more like Pettigrew than I'd care to admit.

Then again, Pettigrew wasn't particularly strong even when he had his best friends at his side. He much preferred to just hang back and let them fight his battles for him.

Sally raised her eyebrow at Potter. "I hate to break it to you James, but I think the Dungbombs got you even worse than us."

Marlene shook her head seriously, "No, I think eau de tramps arse is just his natural smell."

Potter put a hand on his stomach and gave one fake laugh.

Marlene only smiled sweetly, seemingly spurred on by the reaction, "Or maybe he's releasing a scent to attract Lily. It has to be mating season round about now, right?

"Shut it Mac_Kingpin_. I don't need a scent to attract Evans, she comes of her own accord." He nudged Lily, "Right Lils?"

She gave him a tired look in response as he waited for her reaction with an amused grin. "I'm not even going to give you the satisfaction of replying to that Potter."

He laughed and shrugged. "I guess even you can't deny the truth."

Marlene gave a look, but said nothing. She seemed to know better than to mess with him too much where Lily was concerned.

"So where's the fourth Musketeer?" Sally asked nonchalantly. I knew right away she meant Black.

"Sleeping" came the one-worded answer.

I couldn't escape the squirm my stomach gave. I could finally relax and enjoy breakfast without being constantly on edge that it would be interrupted by a sneering Black.

All I had to worry about now was their retaliatory prank. Potter had almost promised it last night and knowing the Marauders as I did, I knew it was bound to be something either extremely foul, or extremely embarrassing.

x

After a thankfully uneventful breakfast I left the hall.

There had been no pranks or threats, but I knew they were probably lulling us into a false sense of security.

I had Charms next with Marlene and Lily. At least I wouldn't be on my own if they chose to initiate it within the next hour.

Lily automatically headed straight for the front of the room, in order to set an example to the rest of the class, but Marlene point blank refused to sit any closer than third row claiming she was no teachers pet. I was inclined to agree with her; first row was too close, but my reluctance was for entirely different reasons.

Firstly I'd always hated the sensation of feeling like everyone's eyes were on my back.

Secondly the people at the front were always expected to raise their hands and give answers to the questions. I hadn't raised my hand in class since primary school.

In the end, neither Marlene nor Lily would budge so the latter ended up sitting at the front on her own, while Marlene and I took a seat at the very back.

It was probably just as well; Marlene kept making me laugh with her impressions of a ranting Mike. Lily would've seen it as her duty to scold us.

Flitwick came into the classroom at one minute past nine o clock and Potter, Black and Remus all followed him in. Late, but getting away with it as usual.

I vaguely wondered why Pettigrew wasn't amongst them, but perhaps he had failed the class or something. He'd never been the best academic. In fact I wasn't really sure what he _was_ good at.

The three boys took their seats and I was little surprised to find Remus catch my eye as he sat down and give me a small smile.

Unfortunately, Marlene had seen him do it and gave me an amused questioning look when I returned it.

I could tell she wanted an explanation to the familiarity; surely me throwing dung on him wasn't enough to have warranted a friendly smile?

But I was saved the bother of trying to explain the situation of my and Remus's truce when something either incredibly funny, or extremely worrying happened.

Potter had taken the spare seat next to Lily's.

"Oh Merlin" I breathed.

I watched as Potter leaned closer and whispered something that made her fidget uncomfortably.

Marlene and I looked at one another, neither of us really knowing whether or not it was ok to laugh at what had happened

"Something tells me this lesson is going to be interesting," she whispered.

* * *

A/N: Sirius told me to tell you to review. Remus told me to tell you thankyou and thankyou again for all the ones I've already recieved


	6. Nice Hair

**'Nice hair'**

"So, what's the deal between you and Remus?" Marlene asked smiling impishly.

I knew it had been wishful thinking to presume she would forget about Remus smiling at me just because Potter had sat next to Lily. Who was looking extremely uncomfortable by this stage might I add. Lily, I mean. Potter just looked smug.

"What?" I asked would-be blankly, even though I knew exactly what she was referring to. All she knew was that I'd thrown dung on him in Potions. That's was it. She knew nothing of our history, or how the Marauders used to bully me, or even of the armistice I'd finally come to with Remus yesterday.

Marlene smirked and elbowed me, "Don't play coy, I saw your little exchange."

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't help but smile a little at the expression on her face.

"We're just friends." Even as I said it I wondered if it was appropriate to even call us friends. Were we more acquaintances than friends?

Either way, Marlene still didn't look as though she bought a word I was saying. "Hm, ok Cheryl, I believe you. Thousands wouldn't."

What more did I have to say to get her to believe that there was nothing going on? I didn't want her to spread things around about our relationship that just weren't true. Remus would probably think I had started them.

Maybe if she knew the whole truth she would believe me.

But no, I couldn't tell her that.

I fought back the urge to just tell her everything. Tell her who I really was.

Uh. I nearly shuddered at the thought of saying my old nickname out loud to Marlene. I could barely say it inside my own head without feeling a rush of shame about who I used to be. _Beaver_ Morland.

I must've taken on a sombre expression because the knowing smirk had disappeared from the self-assured girls face. She looked uncharacteristically serious.

"What is it?" she asked. "What's happened between you two?"

I let my breath out quietly and looked at her, preparing myself. It was now or never.

Worst possible scenario: Marlene, Sally and Dorcas would purposefully distance themselves from 'the geek'.

Best possible scenario: Well, there wasn't one. They wouldn't want to hang around with the Marauders old victim.

Despite this I knew my new friends would find out some day even if I didn't tell them. At least if I told Marlene myself I would have some control.

"Do you remember the girl the Marauders used to pick on about a year ago?"

Marlene's face remained blank. I knew I'd have to say that word that still had the ability to make me feel insignificant.

"The one they called the Beaver…" I continued.

Recognition finally lit up in Marlene's eyes. "Yeah, I do! But what has this got to do with Remus smiling at you? And didn't she leave anyway?"

I nodded. That was true. I did leave.

Trouble was no one apart from Lily, the staff and the Marauders realised I was back.

"Yeah" I confirmed. "But she came back. _I_ came back."

Had Marlene finally taken the hint?

Her eyes widened. Yep.

"No…"

I nodded and smiled grimly, "Yes. Remus smiled at me because we've finally made up. He was just being pleasant, it didn't mean anything else."

Marlene raised her eyebrow.

I knew it. She didn't want anything more to do with me.

I vaguely wondered if she would move away from me now, or be more subtle about it and wait until we got out of the class and then just ignore me.

But she didn't move, she just kept looking at me.

"You look completely different" she said quietly.

Without warning the corners of her mouth started to twitch. She bit her bottom lip in a bid to get them to stop, but it was no use.

I watched her in utter bewilderment as she started to let out silent laughter. It got progressively louder every time she paused, obviously to think about whatever she was laughing at.

I furrowed my eyebrows, what was so funny?

Her laughter finally died down for the third time and she looked at me with a forced straight face. I met her eyes and her face cracked as her laughter started up again.

I slapped her arm half playfully, "Hey! What are you laughing at?"

"Oh Merlin, Cheryl" she breathed, the smile still in her eyes. "You were such a geek!"

She wiped a tear from her eye and her shoulders shook as the silent laughter started again. Apparently the image of me in fourth year was an extremely amusing one indeed.

I let my breath out in surprise. I couldn't believe she'd actually just said that.

"Well thanks Marlene" I said sarcastically. "Really. That was possibly _the_ most sensitive thing you could've said in this situation." But even I couldn't resist a smile.

At least she wasn't tiptoeing around me or even worse, disgusted by who I used to be. She just found it funny.

She put a hand on my shoulder, "I'm sorry" she said, the traces of a smile still on her features. "But if it makes you feel any better, they're probably regretting ever teasing you now."

What was that supposed to mean?

She looked at my blank face reproachfully, as if I should've known what she was going on about straight away.

"Let's just say you've 'blossomed' a bit since then" she said, the knowing smirk back on her face.

_Blossomed_?

"Ew" I exclaimed loudly, completely forgetting I was in a lesson.

Flitwick's eyes shot up at the sound and the whole class turned around to see the source of the outburst. Oops.

I quickly put a blank look on my face and stared straight ahead, focusing on the board. Maybe if I gave no reaction at all no one would realise it had been me.

I was sure my face was giving the game away by slowly turning red though.

Flitwick cleared his throat a little before trying to continue with the lesson, but most of the class were still looking around, obviously trying to figure out who it had been.

I allowed myself a quick glance at their faces and was relieved to find most of them on Marlene. When I looked at her I understood why. She had _the_ widest grin on her face.

She really was shameless. It was surprisingly refreshing.

Unfortunately though I saw that there were a few of the more curious eyes resting upon me, despite my best efforts to remain nonchalant. I was surprised to find Black's amongst them. Was it just me, or did he look amused?

His one eyebrow was raised as he looked from Marlene's barely stifled grin to my blank face.

I looked away, trying to ignore him completely. I had a suspicion he was trying to make me feel even more embarrassed by staring.

After everyone had finally turned back around in their seats I leaned into a still grinning Marlene. "For my sake, _never_ say the word 'blossomed' in public. Ever again."

Marlene just laughed. "Duly noted."

x

Lily stormed out of the lesson as soon as the bell rang leaving Marlene and I to walk out alone.

I'd no idea what Potter had been saying to her to get her so riled up, but I had an inkling it probably included the words 'Lily Flower' and 'You know you want me' repeated several times with that inane smirk only he and Black could seem to pull off and still look begrudgingly handsome.

I reached down to get my timetable from my bag to check my next lesson. It was nearing the end of the first week and I still didn't know what lessons I was supposed to be in. My memory was awful.

But my searching hand met with thin air. I patted my side, feeling frantically for my absent bag. My heart skipped a beat. I'd lost my bag?

No, just left it somewhere. _Stop panicking._

Thinking back quickly I tried to pinpoint where I'd left it.

My last lesson. Charms.

I sighed quietly, now I would have to walk all the way back up to the classroom to fetch it. I couldn't even use a summoning spell because I'd left my wand inside one of the pockets. _Idiot._

I really couldn't be bothered, but I had no choice. Everything I needed was in there.

Explaining the situation quickly to Marlene and telling her I'd meet her and the girls in the hall at dinner if I didn't see them before, I hurried back to the room I'd just left.

Hopefully because I'd got out fairly quickly the first time this delay wouldn't make me too late for my next lesson.

I broke into a jog through the empty corridor and finally reached the class.

Yes! I spotted it lying by my desk as soon as I stepped through the doorway.

Without a second glance, my eyes focused on my prize, I walked quickly over and grabbed it, speed walking back out of the room.

I was just about to reach for my timetable again when I felt something touch the sides of my waist lightly.

All thoughts of my next class forgotten in that instant, I froze. My lungs forgot how to work and I stayed stock still. I hadn't seen anyone in the class.

Perhaps it was just Marlene playing some kind of joke. Maybe she had double backed on me and was trying to make me jump.

But even as I reached down to pull them off I knew that wasn't true.

Marlene wouldn't press against my back like that. Marlene's hands weren't large and rough. But I couldn't bring myself to turn around. I was worried who I would find when I did.

There was something almost sexual about the way they were holding me.

My breathing was slow and laboured as I felt whoever it was lean down. I could feel their soft breathing on my neck and it sent chills down my spine.

I couldn't let it carry on. I took a deep breath and forced myself to turn around.

My eyes landed on the culprits face and my stomach turned over.

His handsome face smirked at me as he let go.

Black.

I just stared at him in complete disbelief. I was annoyed to find my heart beating ridiculously fast at the brief contact.

I didn't like him, but he was a boy and he was touching me. That alone had the power to make me feel nervous.

"Looking for something?" he asked, seeming to enjoy my reaction. I glared back at him but it only made him laugh.

He held out my missing leather bag.

I snatched it back, sending him a seething glare.

"Oh, don't take everything so seriously" he said tiredly. "It doesn't have to be this way you know." He allowed a playful smile to flitter across his face. "I heard you went sneaking around in my Dormitory."

He sent me a knowing smile, his eyes teasing.

Potter told him then.

I didn't like Black's expression. It made me feel uncomfortable, like he actually thought that I wanted to go snooping around in his dirty boxers. I was rapidly losing control over the situation.

In a bid to fix things, I forced myself to smirk, "Gotten rid of the smell yet?"

He seemed a bit taken aback by my answer and I took the opportunity to turn and start walking away. I had to get away. But Black fell into step beside me. I didn't even know where I was walking to.

"We did that within the first two hours" he replied arrogantly.

I raised an eyebrow, forcing myself to be calm even though Black was currently tailing me to no mans lands.

"I'm surprised it took you that long." I only said it to rile him.

It seemed to work.

He grasped the back of my school shirt with his hand, his touch yet again making me jump. I nudged him off impatiently. "I have to get to my lesson will you just bugger off" I said without thinking.

He raised his eyebrows. "Fine" he said, holding up his hands. "Be that way _Beaver._" He spoke nastily now, obviously annoyed at how I was treating him. "Hope you know that this is war" he said simply.

I narrowed my eyes and shook my head, "Don't threaten me" I replied.

He gave a grim smile. "Oh, I'm not" he assured. "Think of it more as a promise." His eyes flashed dangerously, and I felt my heartbeat up a notch, a grip of apprehension tighteed around my stomach about what war against boys like the Marauders could mean. Somehow I forced my expression into amused nonchalance.

"Whatever you say Black." I tried to look as if I wasn't bothered in the slightest.

I stepped back without another word and was gone. Thankfully he made no attempt to follow me this time, holding back with his hands in his pockets and a determined expression on his face.

"Oh, and Morland!" He was shouting after me, I turned my head. "Nice hair." I looked down in reflex at my straightened locks, under no illusion that his compliment was real.

My heart was still beating irregularly as I tried to walk calmly away.

Once I'd rounded the corner and was out of sight I slumped against a wall in a bid to calm myself down.

I cursed myself for letting our stupid grudge get this far. I was clearly in this way over my head with him.

Finally I managed to snap myself out of my reverie when I spotted a teacher and it reminded me. Bollocks. I had a lesson to get to.

Sodding Black. Now I would be late for sure. I pulled out my timetable hastily and tried to decipher the crumpled sheet.

History of Magic.

Well at least Binns wouldn't notice me walking in- I checked my watch- _20 minutes_ late. Merlin.

* * *

A/N: Eep, what do you think? Review please :)

Next chapter includes the Marauders prank. 'Citin stuff! I already have an idea in mind, but if anyone can think of a really good one that hasn't been done before I'm always open to suggestions.

Oh yeah, I have a new poll. If you fancy killing a bit of time go vote in it.


	7. The Favour?

**'The Favour?'**

I could only presume that Marlene had told Sally and Dorcas who I really was after I'd admitted it to her in my Charms lesson earlier that afternoon, because Sally had let it slip that night that 'we would get the Marauders back for the way they'd treated me'.

But I didn't actually mind Marlene telling them both; it would save me the future awkwardness.

The way they were all acting so nonchalant about it now made my days of trying hard not to let it slip that the Marauders used to call me 'the Beaver' seem completely ridiculous and unnecessary.

Besides, I had bigger things to worry about.

Black had just started to take his little vendetta against me seriously.

Every time we'd met he'd gotten way too close and I had a feeling he was doing it on purpose purely to make me feel uncomfortable.

x

I woke up at ten o clock the next morning in an incredibly good mood. The weekend had _finally_ arrived and I wouldn't have to put up with any of the Marauders until Monday.

I pulled back the drapes surrounding my bed and the eager chatter of my fellow Dorm-mates hit my ears before my eyes could even process them.

There seemed to be moving bodies everywhere.

Excited teenage girls scatted around the room getting ready for the day ahead, occasionally stopping briefly to comb their hair or give their teeth a perfunctory brush.

The general mood of the room was a lot different to that of a weekday. It was actually lively. I could already feel everyone else's energy rubbing off on me. I was _so _ready for this day to start.

After breakfast we all made our way down to the lake- Marlene, Sally, Dorcas and I.

Lily had gotten up early this morning, and for some reason I hadn't so much as passed her in the corridor since the day before.

But it was one of those rare days of sunshine in late September so the rest of us were determined to make the most of it.

Leaving our unneeded wands safely in our bedroom we made our way down to the Great Lake for a much needed relax session in the comfortably warm sun. It had to be around thirty degrees, which for Scottish weather was practically oven hot.

The plan was to paddle for a while, and just generally waste our time outside for a few hours. After a hard first weeks worth of lessons, the prospect of doing as little as possible was extremely appealing.

We took our shoes off, stretching out our feet on the warm grass as we strolled over to the lake. The water felt nice and cool against the dry skin of my legs and feet.

We'd all worn skirts especially for the purpose of wading out as far as possible without having to take any clothes off.

The water level reached to my knee before we were forced to stop. Marlene and Dorcas were quite a bit shorter than the rest of us, and they could go no further.

x

x

James nudged his friend quickly, spotting their targets. "They're here…"

There was an unmistakable glint in Sirius's eyes as he locked onto the three girls they're been waiting to get back at since the beginning of the week.

Now the eleventh hour had finally arrived and he felt the usual energy rush course through his veins as he and James rose stealthily to their feet. They were well used to moving around without being noticed by now.

Sirius looked around to the second in command of their little group, "You coming, Moony?"

Remus gave a grim smile and shook his head, "You go on ahead, I'll keep watch."

Sirius nodded dubiously, focusing his attention now on the slightly underdeveloped boy on his left. Peter had remained seated and was currently staring unfocusedly into space, seemingly oblivious to what was going on. His expression was rather gormless.

Black flickered his eyes impatiently before clapping his hands together loudly in his friends face.

"Snap snap, Pete!" he exclaimed, making the smaller boy jump and peer up at him anxiously. Peter's expression caused a barely repressed grin to tug at the corners of Sirius's mouth.

"Come on" Sirius prompted, still fighting the smirk.

He motioned for Peter to follow himself and James, and while Peter still looked a little startled he immediately scrambled to his feet.

Black shared a mutual glance of impatience with James before they started to walk quietly closer to where the group of girls were now laughing and splashing around, still oblivious to their presence.

Sirius nodded his head towards their targets, speaking to no one in particular, "They'll have gone by the time we get over there." Subconsciously he quickened his pace.

By this time Peter had broken out into a half run, struggling to keep up with the large strides of his long-legged friends, but they didn't have time to slow down. They were on a mission.

"Wormtail!" James hissed, beckoning Peter to hurry up over to where he and Sirius were now standing, hidden behind the trunk of a large oak tree. The pair of boys had now gotten within easy throwing distance of the girls.

Once Peter was within reach Sirius shot a hand out and tugged him roughly out of view. "Right, now strip" he commanded.

Peter's eyes widened, "W-what?" he stammered.

"Pete, we've been over this." James said impatiently. "When it's sunny girl's paddle. It's what they do, it's what they've always done. It's as predictable as clockwork, and we're going to use it to our advantage."

He grabbed the somewhat slow boys shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "Now look at me, and focus. First, take off your clothes -"

"-But for Merlin's sake, keep your boxers on," Sirius interjected. "We don't want any poor sod going into shock if you're caught."

James grimaced at the thought of the mass councilling it would take to recover from seeing his friends bits. "Yes" he agreed. "Take everything off, _except _your underwear. Once you've done that you proceed down to the lake underneath the cover of this." James held out his invisibility cloak.

"As soon as you reach the girls-"

"Girls?" Peter squeaked, as if he had no idea there were even any girls involved in this prank.

James closed his eyes in exasperation, "Kill me now, Padfoot."

Sirius laughed. "Listen Pete, just go down to the lake, leg the wenches over so they're suitably soaked, and then get the hell out of there."

He pointed to the group of girls in question and made sure Peter knew exactly who they was talking about, "Comprehende?"

Peter blinked and nodded. "And I'll be under the invisibility cloak?"

"Right" Sirius and James chorused, sure they'd already been through this.

There was a pause before fresh confusion washed over Peter's face, "But won't it get wet if I'm in the water?"

James sighed and looked to the heavens as if asking for the patience he currently lacked before setting his gaze on his friends chubby face once more.

"It's called a drying spell, Wormtail," he said, shaking his head a little, "Sometimes I think you forget we're wizards."

Peter looked down, apparently ashamed.

James and Sirius exchanged a look before James clapped the smaller boy on the shoulder comfortingly, "Don't worry mate, we still love yer…even if you are a bit of an imbecile…"

He slapped the boys rear and grinned, "Now, get going!"

Peter beamed happily and nodded.

Sirius watched his friend pulling on the invisibility cloak and start to head towards where Morland and her friends were still laughing in the water. He couldn't wait for the humiliation to begin.

x

x

"Guess what we're doing tonight."

I looked over at Marlene's rather sudden announcement. I was both anxious and inexplicably excited when I saw she had what was now a familiar 'glint' in her eye.

"What?" I asked uncertainly, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth.

She skipped her eyebrows and grinned before exclaiming, "Dorm party!"

A party?

Oh God, yeah. Now I came to think on it, she _had_ mentioned something of the sort on our first night. It was one of those things that I presumed would just be forgotten.

But apparently Marlene wasn't the type to forget anything that had the potential to be fun.

"Sally is going to join our room for the night, aren't you Sal?"

Sally nodded.

"I've loads of sweets I bought with me that I haven't even started on yet, too" Sally grinned.

Their excitement was infectious.

But... "Wait" I said slowly, "Does Lily know about this?"

Lily shared our room and something told me a late night Dormitory party had to be breaking some form of Prefect rule.

But Sally just beamed at me, "As long as we don't have alcohol, Lily's completely fine with it fine. In fact, she's promised to join in. Mary has too."

I had to suppress a grimace when Sally mentioned Mary would be joining us.

I didn't get chance to ponder the horror that was Mary's scowling face, however, because for some reason Marlene had just dived head first into the lakes surface.

Sally, Dorcas and I all looked at one another in disbelief. One minute we'd been talking, the next minute she was under the water.

In a beat Sally's eyes were torn from ours when she too landed head first into the water. I watched as her knees buckled and she was submerged, again seeming to disregard the fact that she was still fully-clothed.

It was just Dorcas and me left now.

No, scratch that. Dorcas was the last of my friends to plummet herself into the water.

I stared at the ripples their unexpected movements had left behind, as if searching the waters fidgety surface for some kind of answer for their behaviour. Words failed me.

It was so obvious now. This was the only way they could think of to get rid of me. My unpopularity was happening all over again and there was nothing I could do about it. It was all the Marauders fault.

I was just starting to wallow in my own self pity, and wonder if I should make my way back to dry land, when I felt something strong grip itself around my ankle and tug hard.

Before I knew what was happening I found myself thrown ungraciously down into the water.

x

Whatever it was thankfully let me go as soon as I'd lost my footing, and after a brief moment of panic under the water I managed to find my feet again and pushed myself up gasping to the surface.

I smoothed my now dripping wet hair back from my face, retching; I'd swallowed an obscene amount of water on the way down and I couldn't help but think of the potential squid pee.

As I squinted my eyes open I found three other faces looking back at me. It was the girls. Obviously the same thing had tugged them down. I cringed inwardly at my original paranoia.

We all just stared at one another's soaked clothes, speechless.

Marlene looked suspiciously into the water. Her dark blue eyes were narrowed, trying to discern the culprit.

It was no use. The surface of the lake had become cloudy from where we'd kicked at the floor in our attempts to resurface.

I glanced down despairingly at my wet clothes and almost did a double take when I saw my white muslin blouse. I could practically make out the colour of my skin underneath. The material of my top had become almost see-through with the water.

My favourite colourful bra- that I'd worn to match my good mood this morning- was now highly visible. I felt the blood flare to my face.

Movement around me brought me out of my mortifying distraction momentarily. Marlene had started to head back towards land and was beckoning for us to do the same.

I found myself rooted to the spot. Couldn't we just stay here for a bit? Surely we'd dry naturally in a few… hours… or so.

Our dripping wet clothes were sure to be met with curious stares from the large crowds of students lounging on the grass, and me and my pink spotted black bra'ed self were not about to walk straight into that.

From the horrified look on Sally's face as she examined her now see-through skirt, I knew I was not alone in my reluctance to head to dry land.

We were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Or rather, the nosy students and the creature infested lake.

Whatever had dragged us down in the first place was probably still close by.

The thought made me shiver and reflexively glance down into the water again, even though the clouds of dirt still prevented me from seeing below the surface.

After a moments deliberation we decided we had no choice but to follow Marlene and start wading back to the waters edge. If there was something lurking in the waters depths it was probably best to put as much distance between ourselves and it as possible.

x

The very second we stepped out onto the grass all eyes seemed to be on us, just as I'd feared.

It was as though the other students had some kind of in-built radar for humiliation. Maybe they could feel the vast amounts of heat radiating from my face.

I could hardly blame them for staring though; our clinging outfits left nothing to the imagination. And weren't people supposed to take their clothes off before they went swimming? …Not to mention the hygiene factors of submerging in the Great Lake.

I tried not to focus on the scrutinizing eyes as I put one dripping foot in front of the other.

I decided to try and follow Marlene's example and be utterly shameless about it all until, that is, we were stopped in our tracks by three smirking boys...

Why me?

Potter just stood there, staring at us still dripping water from every extremity. I could tell from his twitching mouth that he was dying to laugh, but he quickly turned it into a coughing fit.

Directly to his right, I saw Black smirk before lightly tapping his friends back once.

Potter stopped 'choking' immediately and grinned.

"What's, erm- what's happened to- to you lot then?" he asked, his sentence interrupted every time a tell-tale twitch pulled at the corner of his lips.

He cleared his throat again and furrowed his brow seriously, trying to stop himself from laughing right in our faces. I was only surprised he would bother.

I was distracted from Potter's maddening twitches however when I happened to glance at Black again.

His face had gained a strange unfocused expression, his grey eyes staring with overly dilated pupils. Black missing a chance to goad at my misfortune? Wonders would never cease.

I followed his eye line curiously and felt myself go hot and cold when I saw where it had rested.

I looked down as if in slow motion to see what he was examining, even though I had a horrible feeling I knew already.

Sure enough my embarrassingly bright red bra was still visible through my drenched blouse. Every part of it, including the lace, was clear as day to anyone who wanted to see, which for some inexplicable reason included Black. Probably to embarrass me.

I kept my head tilted downwards for longer than necessary, eyes shut from the sheer mortification of it all. I could feel my face burning.

When I finally forced myself to raise my head again I was dismayed to find Black still looking at me.

He'd obviously been waiting to catch my eye, a knowing smirk now plastered on his face as if I should feel ashamed for wearing anything but a plain white bra. Strangely enough, I did.

Once his eyes locked on mine I could see the smirk widen slightly until a few of his perfect teeth were bared and he raised his one eyebrow. He grinned back at me like the cat that had got the cream, biting down on his lower lip. Yet again he seemed was playing with me.

I had to resist the impulse to put a protective arm over my chest. I knew he would just find that incredibly amusing.

I wished Marlene would stop bantering with Potter and Pettigrew so we could all just get out of there.

When I'd finally managed to fight my way through the thick cloud of shame I knew immediately that _they'd_ had something to do with what had happened.

That's why Remus wasn't there. He wouldn't want to get involved with the Marauders prank after our mutual peace treaty.

I couldn't believe I hadn't realised before.

But surely _this_ wasn't the extent of their big retaliatory prank? Dunking us in water? Frankly, it seemed a little pathetic.

An exclamation from Marlene brought my attention immediately back to my surroundings.

"_You_ lot had something to do with this, didn't you?" she accused, gesturing to our wet clothes. "Admit it!" she demanded.

I was pleased to hear she had reached the same conclusion.

Marlene had a threatening finger pointed at Potter's chest. But he just grabbed it and pushed it to one side calmly, a expression on his face that clearly said, _'prove it'_.

It was only then that I noticed Pettigrew.

The smaller boys face looked strained at Marlene's accusation, and his podgy face had started to resemble a beetroot in colour.

"It was the Grindylows!" he blurted out finally, seeming unable to hold his silence any longer. Potter shot him a warning look, but Pettigrew didn't seem to notice.

"I saw them myself" Peter insisted earnestly. "They grabbed you. All of you. There are loads in the lake. You have to believe us!"

He was such a bad liar, it was almost funny. From the corner of my eye I glimpsed Black snicker at Pettigrew's weak excuse.

Seeing we weren't going to be convinced - and honestly, it was really quite insulting that he'd thought we would buy the crap about the Grindylow attack - Potter stepped in.

"Listen, do you want us to help you or not?" he asked bluntly.

"Help us?" Sally said incredulously. "How could _you_ help _us_?"

"We could help you get out of those wet clothes for a start," Black stated. His voice was clearly ladened with innuendo.

Marlene let her mouth drop, "Perverts" she exclaimed flashing a grin.

Black just laughed and looked down at her, "What a one-track mind you have McKinnon" he said reproachfully. "What I actually meant was, we know to some spare clothes you can put on."

Sally shook her head, obviously more annoyed than the care-free Marlene, "We have our own clothes in our dormitory, thanks." She shook her head and motioned to the rest of us, "Come on."

Dorcas went to follow her, but Potter quickly stepped in front of the escaping blonde.

"Ah, now, you see Sparrow, there's a problem with that particular plan." He was clearly thinking on his feet. "Be-cause, no-one can actually get near the common room at this moment in time…"

Sally gave him a disbelieving look, but he continued as if uninterrupted.

"For some reason Peeves has decided to take up residence outside the entrance, and has a stash of loo roll ready to chuck at anyone foolish enough to try and get past."

"-And it's been used" Black added, obviously enjoying his friends tall-tale.

I caught Sally's eye and we exchanged a dubious look, both almost certain the boys were talking utter rubbish.

Yet at the same time what if for once in their lives they were actually being genuine? Granted, it was a long shot, but they'd never let us live it down if we got used lavatory roll on our heads, especially not after they'd specifically warned us.

Sally sighed resignedly, "Where are the spare clothes kept?"

Potter grinned. "There we go, wasn't so hard to have a bit of trust in your fellow man now was it?"

Sally just rolled her eyes. "It's called desperation."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that, because I have a feeling it would've offended Padfoot's delicate nature."

Unconsciously I pulled a face at the mention of Black's 'delicate nature'.

Potter glanced sharply at me as if he'd seen it but thankfully just looked quickly away again, so perhaps not. Either that or he was being uncharacteristically decent, which I seriously doubted was the case.

"This way ladies" he called now, leading the way to Merlin knows where. Marlene, Sally, Dorcas and I exchanged a hesitant look, but reluctantly followed in silence. We had no choice. It was starting to get cold. Even allowing for the mildness of the season.

"Come on _Cheryl_" Sirius's voice came suddenly from behind me. He rested his hand on the small of my back guiding me along with the rest of them. With Sally on my other side talking conspiratorially to Marlene and Dorcas, and the boys up in front no one seemed to be aware of our exchange.

"I must admit I never had you down as a naughty underwear kind of girl" Black remarked with a skim of his eyebrows, "but I have to tell you, I like what I see."

I made the mistake of catching his eye and he smirked knowingly. "It's always the quiet ones isn't it?" he said.

"Keep your eyes off my underwear Black" I warned.

But he just snorted, "It's hard to miss it" he replied. "You might want to cover up next time" he advised, "Here let me help." He wrapped an arm around me, pretending to fear for my modesty.

I shrugged him off furiously. "Get off me" I muttered, and walked around to the other side of Dorcas, putting as much distance as I could between myself and Black.

x

Potter led us up an unfamiliar corridor to a small room, the walls of which were covered in floor to ceiling cupboards.

Sure enough it had a sign on the front of the wooden door that read _Lost and Found._

I supposed second hand clothes were better than none at all…

I watched as Black opened one of the far cupboard doors and reached up to the top shelf, pulling down a large, heavy looking box labelled _girl's clothes and oddbits_.

I vaguely wondered just what was meant by 'oddbits', but I supposed it meant things like abandoned hats or jewellery.

He slammed it unceremoniously onto the table in front of us, raising an eyebrow at the clearly unfashionable clothes on top before gesturing at it and muttering something to us that sounded like, "Go wild".

As he turned his back on us Sally finally voiced the all important question I had been wondering since Potter had told us about the spare clothes, but couldn't seem to bring myself to ask aloud.

"Why are you doing this for us, Black?"

Black paused for a second before turning around to face us. He just shrugged, an amused expression on his face, "Because we're good people." He started to walk backwards slowly.

"Besides, " he continued, for some reason looking at me now, "we can't let Morland go around displaying her '_assets'_ to _all_ the schools male population. It would only make our Remmy jealous." He smirked at my horrified face.

Sure enough Marlene's head whipped around to me immediately, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly ajar.

I shook my head at her, "There's nothing going on between me and Remus," I assured her for the second time. "Black's just stirring, as usual."

Black let out a barking laugh at this. I knew he was doing it on purpose to cause ructions and I shot him a dirty look.

Remus probably hated me now because of that idiot Black constantly teasing him about liking me, when in actual fact we'd barely spoken properly above once. It was embarrassing, like I thought I would be good enough for Remus.

"We'll leave you girls to it" Potter said as he was already exiting the room, Pettigrew quickly tailing after him.

Black started to back out of the room, closing the door slowly, but just before his face disappeared completely he cocked his finger like a gun and fired it at us. "_See _you later" he said, skipping his eyebrows.

I blinked. I could swear that last part had been for my benefit.

I shook my head a little at my own paranoia; I was reading _way_ too deeply into things. Those weird grey eyes of his could've been focused on any one of us, for any number of reasons.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to leave me a review! x


	8. Charming

**Chapter 8**

**Charming**

Sally looked at me and rolled her eyes, "Sirius likes to think he's such a charmer."

I nodded briefly in agreement, "He just does it to make me feel uncomfortable," I muttered.

x

Despite being fairly slim I'd never liked undressing in public so I tried to de-robe as discreetly as possible, pulling my new skirt on underneath my old one before taking it off.

Marlene and Sally didn't seem to be bothered though. Even Dorcas was comfortable enough to just stand there in her bra and pants while she sorted her new outfit out and it started to make me wonder if I was too self-conscious for my own good.

We had each chosen a basic skirt and blouse from the lost and found box and mine looked like it would have felt at home in wartime Britain. But we were just grateful for any rescue from the wet clothes that presently clung to our bodies.

I fumbled around with the fastenings on my wet blouse clumsily. The water had made the material expand and the cloth button refused to come out of its hole.

I was briefly interrupted from my fracas however by the sound of a small gasp from somewhere in front of me.

I looked up questioningly at Sally -the source of the noise- but found she had her back to me as she walked slowly over to the disused fireplace on the opposite wall. It looked as though she was examining something on its mantle closely.

Intrigued now, I called over to her.

Sally turned around abruptly, a little startled from my voice. She furrowed her eyebrows and held up what had her so absorbed for me to see.

"A mirror?" I asked, a bit taken aback. What was so fascinating about a plain old mirror?

Sally looked back at it, "I swear I saw a glimpse of something move across it when I was pulling my top on, but by the time I could look properly… it was gone."

"A glimpse of what?" Marlene interjected sharply, paying sudden attention to our conversation.

Sally shook her head, "I dunno, just something dark seemed to move in it. It was hazy though."

She propped it back on the fireplace again, a visible shiver running through her body.

"It was probably just one of our reflections or something," I reasoned, trying to make her feel better. She seemed genuinely shaken by it.

"Yeah…" Sally said, sounded unconvinced. Without warning her hand darted out and flipped the piece of glass face down.

She shrugged, "Something about it just gives me the creeps."

x

Once we were dressed we bundled up our clothes and headed out of the room back towards our common room.

It had been about half an hour since the boys had told us Peeves had taken up residence there, so hopefully he would've moved on by now.

Sure enough there was no tell-tale woops or howls. It was actually oddly quiet.

I couldn't help but wonder if the poltergeist had ever been there in the first place, or if it was just another of the Marauders tricks.

As if he had been sent with the sole purpose of proving my suspicion wrong a small, timid looking first year boy came up behind us as we walked to the portrait hole.

"Is it safe to come through yet?" he asked uncertainly. "Has Peeves gone?" I nodded once at him as Marlene said the password.

Maybe the Marauders were more trustworthy than I'd given them credit for after all.

x

The second we stepped through the doorway into the common room my eardrums were bombarded by the intimidating noise of cheers, whoops and wolf-whistling.

I instantly froze wondering what on earth was going on. It was a little surreal.

I looked reluctantly into the large noisy crowd that had gathered in the middle of the room and realised with some unease that all eyes appeared to be on us.

One glance across at the rest of the girls told me they were just as clueless as I was to see the group of at least twenty Gryffindor boys now catcalling at us.

But Sally's bemused gaze seemed to focus somewhat even as I looked on, her penetrating stare now fixed on a point that she refused to look away from. Her eyes narrowed down to slits as she glared right into the heart of the clapping gang.

I followed her eyeline somewhat apprehensively and sure enough there sat the Marauders. All four of them.

Of course.

Of course dunking us in water hadn't been the extent of the prank. Of course there would be more. I just had no clue what _this_ was all about. _Was_ this part of the prank?

It was only then that I noticed something shiny lying abandoned in Black's lap.

On closer inspection it looked like a small sheet of glass, or a mirror of some kind...

That sentence rang a bell. Hadn't I seen a similar mirror somewhere before...?

The realisation of the seemingly impossible hit me like a ton of bricks. _No._ It couldn't be. Even they wouldn't-

I prayed that this was all some sort of terrible misunderstanding, but something about the satisfied expression on Black's face told me otherwise.

x

I could feel the blood rush to my muscles causing me to feel a little light headed and realised my fight or flight instinct had kicked in the very second I had realised what they'd done.

It was impossible, but somehow I knew it was true.

I didn't know how they managed it but they'd been spying on us while we were dressing, and I had more than a inkling that the creepy mirror Sally had noticed back in the Lost and Found room had had something to do with it. It was almost identical to the one now lying apparently innocently in Black's lap. It was too much of a coincidence.

Was that the reason for this crowd? They hadn't honestly allowed anyone who'd wanted to watch us…?

I felt dirty.

My eyes locked briefly with Remus's before he looked quickly away and out of the window as if he'd never seen me. I couldn't believe he'd been in on it. He'd been watching us get changed just like all the other sickos.

It embarrassed me that I'd ever thought I could trust him.

_This_ was the reason I hadn't had a boyfriend since I was thirteen.

They were all the same, and just when you thought you could trust one he had to go and take advantage.

Right at that moment I was mentally willing them to come within reaching distance, because my right hand was practically itching to make contact with each and every one of their stupid, smirking faces.

They didn't seriously believe that _this_ was an appropriate response to Dungbombs.

Without another seconds thought I walked quickly back out of the common room. I had to move somewhere, staying still was no longer an option.

I needed some outward sign of my annoyance and storming away seemed preferable to what I knew would happen if I stayed in that room a moment longer. I didn't want to be expelled for causing the untimely death of another student, no matter how much that student really deserved it.

I could vaguely hear my three friends shouting my name from behind me and after a brief hesitation I stopped and allowed them to catch up.

Before they could even speak I was muttering, "I can't believe what they've done." The heat pooled to my face to even think about it.

None of them answered, so I glanced at Marlene. Her face just looked blank.

I furrowed my eyebrows, "You do realise what they've done, don't you?" I clarified.

She looked far too calm. She must've not have figured it out yet.

But Marlene nodded, "Yeah."

She looked at me a little worriedly and I imagined that if my expression reflected the way I felt inside at all it would be absolutely livid.

It both amazed and annoyed me how casual she was being about it.

"Don't worry" she assured sympathetically, "we'll get them back for it."

I pause to look at her incredulously. "I don't care it we get them back!" I exclaimed, trying to fight the rising hysteria in my voice. "They went way too far Marlene, can't you see that?"

Half the population of the Gryffindor males had seen us in our underwear, what part of that didn't she understand?

My speech was becoming gradually louder. I wasn't really angry at Marlene, but I couldn't seem to reign myself in. She was just too calm. It was infuriating.

Sally put a hand on my shoulder now, "They shouldn't have done what they did Cheryl, you're right. But I'm not surprised by it. This is the Marauder's we're talking about"

They were starting to make me feel as if I was completely overreacting.

But I didn't think I was, and for once in my life I felt strongly enough not to back down. Black had managed to make me feel so small, and the way he was making a show of it, like we were nothing more than objects. It was just so disrespectful.

Well, at least their sudden kindness at finding us some dry clothes had been explained. _Pah_.

Potter and Black picked that moment to undergo an ill-timed jog towards us, looking far too pleased with themselves.

I glared at them, utterly disgusted.

I felt so angry that I didn't care what happened. I had to voice what I felt or I'd explode.

"I can't believe you did that," I said seriously.

Potter seemed a little taken aback by my adverse reaction, like that was the last thing he had been expecting. "Merlin, take a joke-" he started.

"It was completely disrespectful!" I exclaimed again, feeling my temper rise. "I can't _believe_ you would go that far."

Black just looked at me as if he didn't quite know what to make of my reaction. I could tell he hadn't been expecting it.

I ignored him and pointed an accusing finger at James, shaking my head. "I was actually starting to think _you_ could be alright as well." It was true, ever since he'd stopped Mike from going to McGonagall about our Dungbomb stunt I had been toying with the idea that he wasn't as bad as I'd thought. But now-

I let out a breath of disbelief as I thought again of what they had done.

"Calm down Morland" Black said finally.

Calm down?

"Calm down?" I said angrily.

"Yes," Black uttered. "You're going completely over the top."

I looked at him dangerously, trying to control my breathing. I could hear the sound of my pulse thumping in my ear and my hand was twitching with the now overwhelming impulse to slap his stupid, smug, patronising face.

"I am _so_ going to get you back for this Black," I promised vehemently, jabbing my finger vehemently into his chest. He grasped it to make it stop, holding it at a safe distance from himself.

I bit my lip hard and shook my head a little. He just looked at me as though I were a wild animal or something, not giving away any of his real feelings as usual.

"Just wait," I promised. He had it coming to him.

Before he could reply and secure the last word as usual, I nodded to Marlene and the girls to let them know none of my anger was directed toward them, perhaps despite first appearances. "I'll see you later" I muttered before walking quickly away.

I knew I needed to calm down, and then I had to think through what had happened. My friends' calm reactions were disconcerting. I had to make sure I hadn't overreacted.

After that, I knew I wouldn't be at ease until I'd secured a plan of action in my mind about where to go from here. At that moment I felt like leaving the school altogether was my only option. I never wanted to have to face any of those leering boys ever again. It was more than I could bear.

Since the common room was effectively out of bounds I headed outside towards the oak tree I had used as a sanctuary of sorts during third year.

I made my way there on automatic pilot, not really focusing on any of my surroundings at all.

The thought of having to have a dorm party in our room tonight made my stomach feel like it had been lined with lead. Black had managed to kill any excitement for it stone dead.

x

I looked silently out at the sunset, trapped in my own thoughts.

Half an hour had passed since I had first sat there and the quiet scenery had officially calmed my temper. Thankfully the sunbathing students had long since dispersed before I'd arrived.

For some reason while sitting out here I'd come to the conclusion that I wanted nothing more than to talk to Lily.

Lily always managed to keep a cool head about things like this and I really needed to speak to someone who wasn't involved.

Marlene and Sally had been way too calm about it for my liking, and Dorcas hadn't really said anything at all.

I knew Lily would be bound to see it from my point of view.

She was funny about things like respecting people's privacy, plus she already had an intense dislike for Potter, so she was even more likely to help me get them back.

Prefect or no Lily was always there when a friend needed her, and I really needed her right now. I just didn't have the Marauders inventiveness to think of something myself.

Now that I'd controlled myself, I was actually starting to regret the promise I'd made to Black about getting him back for what he'd done.

In all honesty I wanted nothing more than to just avoid all four boys altogether.

But, a promise was a promise, and I knew I would look weak if I didn't keep it. I'd already sworn to myself that I would never let Black see me looking weak ever again.

It was bad enough he'd seen me in just my bra and knickers… I felt myself go uncomfortably hot again when I was unconsciously reminded of what had happened. At that point I wanted nothing more than to develop a bad case of selective amnesia.

x

I sat on my bed reading Jane Eyre for the third time to take my mind off things until everyone came to bed.

I hadn't been able to track my friends down earlier after my time sitting alone outside, but I didn't really mind. I kind of liked being by myself for a while.

It was getting dark outside now, so I forced myself to get up to light the candles. The soft light made the room seem cosy.

Just as I was settling back into my book the door to the room burst open loudly, and Marlene, Sally, Lily, Dorcas and Mary all came tumbling in.

"There you are!" Sally exclaimed when she spotted me. She looked both relieved and a bit annoyed. "We've been looking everywhere for you."

"Sorry" I muttered, "I did try to find you about half an hour ago though."

At this the girls seemed a little appeased.

Mary still looked annoyed though, like I'd forced her to join them in looking for me.

"Oh" Sally muttered, "we were probably at dinner then- haven't you eaten?"

Now I focused I could feel the churning sensation of hunger twist my stomach.

"No" I said, holding my stomach, "I completely forgot. Crap. I'm actually really hungry now as well, do you think I would be able to find the kitchens?"

Sally grinned and held out a large bag, "No need."

x

It was a bin bag full of sweets, no exaggeration. And it had all been emptied out onto my bed.

"Help yourself" Sally beamed at us. She clearly hadn't been joking when she'd said she'd brought a stash with her.

The other girls all laughed and grabbed a handful of the goods, settling themselves down close by.

I figured the awaited dorm party had just started.

Before we could be dragged into it, I took Lily to one side to talk to her about what the Marauder's had done.

Of course the other girls had already told her.

"I completely agree with you Cheryl, they _did_ go too far" she said consolingly. "They had no right to- well, to do what they did. I don't think they can quite grasp the concept of respecting anyone who isn't part of their gang."

I felt the relief wash over me that finally someone agreed with me. Finally someone who didn't think my reaction had been completely over the top.

A part of me wanted to start back on my tirade about them now I had an understanding audience, but this time I managed to stop myself. I needed Lily's help.

Thankfully Lily took little convincing before she agreed to help me get back at them, and she gave me a brilliant idea on how to do it.

It was so absurdly simple, and yet there was absolutely no way we could ever get into trouble for doing it. I _knew_ I could rely on Lily to have something up her sleeve.

It was about the only thing that would work on the Marauders; we were going to mess with their minds_._

x

"I do not fancy bloody Potter!" Lily exclaimed later that night, for what must've been the tenth time.

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much" Marlene teased.

We all laughed at this. It was so easy to wind Lily up.

"You two do seem to have a lot of chemistry" I added impishly.

Lily's face was a picture. "Right" she said, "Right. Well in that case, I think you and Black are secretly ardent lovers."

I looked at her incredulously. How could she even joke about that.

She gave me a smug look and pointed a finger at me, "That right there is how _I_ feel when people start saying I fancy toerag Potter. Infuriating, isn't it?"

"Ok ok" I said, laughing despite myself, though still not completely convinced mine and Black's relationship was quite the same. Potter blatantly fancied Lily even through all of his jibes towards her.

Dorcas pulled a face at our bantering and stood up, walking over to the large wooden chest at the base of her bed. She lifted the heavy-set lid and started rummaging through its contents.

Eventually she pulled out a huge trombone shaped object.

"What are you going to do-" Sally laughed when Dorcas brandished the weird object at us, "play us a ditty on your trumpet?"

Dorcas giggled and shook her head "Just wait" she said ambiguously, setting it on her bedside table and fiddling around with the parts.

Mary looked up from her bed for the first time that night. I needn't have worried about her scowling presence, because she was doing her best to avoid us altogether.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked warily.

"Probably" Dorcas smiled absentmindedly, still involved in setting it up. Mary raised her eyebrows, but went back to her book.

"There!" Dorcas exclaimed after a couple of minutes. She took a step back. Now that it was all arranged I recognised what it was immediately.

"Isn't it a bit late to start playing music?" I asked uncertainly.

Dorcas shook her head, "We'll just put a silencing charm on the walls."

Marlene's mouth dropped now, "Music?" she said excitedly. She rushed over to Dorcas to examine the scaled down gramophone.

I got up and walked over to it, "What records do you have?"

Dorcas beamed at me and held them all up like a fan.

x

"Feel the beat of the tambourine, oh yeah! You can dance, you can ji-ve-"

We were all stood on our beds, using random objects as microphones as we sang along to Dorcas's cheesy pop songs. It was surprisingly fun acting like a kid.

I flopped down onto my bed to catch my breath briefly, and used the time to sit back to watch the others.

Even Mary had finally given up on her self-induced solitary and had joined in with us within the first ten minutes of watching us singing and dancing around the room like madwomen. Perhaps despite first appearances I was sort of starting to warm up to her. She could be ok when she let herself be.

I grinned uncontrollably at the effort I saw Lily was putting into her singing. She actually had a really good voice, but her intense expression was making me laugh.

"Go for it, Lily!" I called.

Marlene cut me off mid-snigger when she leaped suddenly from her bed to mine, practically diving at me.

We both rolled and crashed to the floor with a loud bump.

I struggled to scramble from the hard floorboards. "You complete oaf!" I exclaimed over the sound of her laughter.

I instinctively grabbed my pillow from my bed and threw it at her head.

It thwacked her in the face before flopping limply to the floor.

We both looked briefly at the somewhat pitiful pillow lying crumpled at her feet, before she cracked up again. Even I couldn't help but chuckle.

She bent over and held her stomach, "Ouch" she breathed through her laughter, "stomach cramp."

From the corner of my eye I vaguely saw a rogue pillow sailing its way towards us from Sally's side of the room before all war broke loose.

x

There were feathers everywhere.

We all stood stock-still now, panting slightly. Now that we were motionless we could finally see the damage our impromptu pillow fight had caused.

The music from the forgotten gramophone was still tootling away in the background comically.

Once Sally's pillow had hit Marlene's shoulder she had seemed to snap out of her laughing fit and immediately taken up a determined look in her blue eyes. Sally didn't seem to know what had hit her when Marlene hurtled at her with a beaded bolster.

After that everyone else had seemed to take it as their cue to join in.

Mary and I had made the most of the general air of confusion -caused by random pillows flying to and fro- by throwing the odd cushion at one another when we thought the other wasn't looking. It had started to become funny after a while.

After Lily had cast a thorough cleaning charm on the room we all collapsed, exhausted, onto our beds.

All the negative thoughts about the Lost and Found room were all but forgotten. Besides, now I had a brilliant plan of action to get the idiot perverts back.

* * *

**A/N:** For anyone who's thinking I'm taking the Marauders too far, just remember that this is from Cheryl's pov and she is -very- self-conscious. So what they may set out as a joke, actually isn't so funny. Also, just think about Snape's worst memory...Snivellus's stained underpants, anyone? Besides, they'll see the error of their ways...eventually...hopefully!

Thanks for the lovely reviews. You have no idea how much I appreciate them and panic if they don't come almost straight away. Completely unreasonable I know! Thanks for reading x


	9. Devious Evans

**Chapter Nine**

**Devious Evans**

I sat in McGonagall's Transfiguration lesson the next morning, not really taking in a word the teacher was saying.

All that kept turning over in my head was Lily's devious plan to get the Marauder's back for their nasty little stunt with the two mirrors. It made me cringe even now to think that Sirius smirking Black had seen me in nothing more than my underwear.

Well, he was going to pay. I would make sure of that.

"Get into pairs," McGonagall called curtly, interrupted my reverie.

Lily obediently came to sit with me, swapping seats with a blonde boy the teacher had put next to me in a seating plan. I was glad to be rid of him. Jonathan Walker prided himself on being the class clown and thought it was highly hilarious to sabotage almost every task we were set.

The redhead and myself had been forced to become fast friends in a matter of a day, our mutual hatred of the Marauders forming a strange bond between the two of us. Prior to this point I had always seen Lily as a little judgmental and dare I say, stuck up, but after her idea for revenge I had been forced to eat my words. Lily most certainly had a rebellious side, she was just clever about keeping it under lock and key for a majority of the time.

I watched the Marauder's divide themselves into two teams across the room, Black obviously buddying up with James. Nothing new there.

I managed to catch Black's eye for what felt like the fiftieth time already that lesson. This time with Lily being fortunately at my side I made a show of leaning over to her conspiratorially and muttering in her ear, just as we had planned. She too glanced at Black before letting out a visible giggle.

His face was a picture. I had to turn away so I could laugh. The 'plan' Lily had told me of yesterday had been nothing more complicated than exploiting Sirius's own paranoia.

Because I had more than a strong feeling Black had been the instigator of the mirror incident we were to embark on a torrent of whispers, pointing and giggling all aimed squarely in his direction. It was brilliant really, a girl's best weapon is her ability to gossip after all. And aiming it solely at Black meant he would have no one to turn to about how strangely we were acting. He would look like a madman. At least, that was the plan.

So far it actually seemed to be working. Black narrowed his eyes at us before nudging an otherwise occupied Potter. He murmured something and pointed us out, but the second James looked in our direction we pretended to be innocently practising the Transfiguring spell.

I glanced up in time to see James shoot his friend a strange look, before continuing with his work. Lily and I cracked up into quiet laughter.

Lily jabbed her elbow into my side when she spotted McGonagall circuiting the classroom and we tried to focus back on the work we were supposed to be doing.

I jogged to the front and quickly picked a random object from the box on the desk. The idea was to transfigure your preferred item into a pure white dove.

I set the inanimate alarm clock I had chosen onto the table in front of us and Lily pointed her wand at it, uttering the spell. Sure enough we watched as the clock morphed into a very pretty white dove. It blinked it's shiny black button eyes at us and cooed softly.

Lily gestured at it again and it returned obediently into a clock.

Just as I had extricated my own wand ready to follow in Lily's lead, a loud attention seeking cough distracted my attention. "What do you want, Black?" I heard Lily demand.

Hardly daring to glance, I looked slowly up into the face of Sirius Black.

When he caught my eye he flicked his eyebrows upwards, a lewd smirk on his face. "Hi," he greeted.

I responded with a cut of my eyes.

"So," he tried to sound casual, "just what were you two _lovely_ ladies finding so thoroughly amusing a minute ago. It _almost_ looked as though you were whispering about me..." he let his sentence trail off.

He looked from Lily to myself and I couldn't resist a smirk. "Oh, nothing..." Lily replied, the humour evident in her voice.

"Hmm," Black sounded with a knowing smile. He turned and pinned me with his stare, "If you want me so badly Morland you may as well come right out and say it. I already know I'm irresistible."

He let his eyes trail downwards before saying more quietly, "I wouldn't mind taking another look at that bra of yours either. I have to make sure you're as naughty as I hope you are." He winked at me quickly while Lily shot me a look of mutual disgust at his words. I felt so privileged to be on the receiving end of Black's fake flirtations- not.

I shot him an unimpressed look. "You're so perverted," I stated.

Black barked out a laugh. "I'm not the one who's been wearing sexy red underwear, walking around the school pretending to be Little Miss Innocent," he shot back.

Lily looked at him strangely, "Well I should hope not, Sirius," she cut in.

I laughed loudly at the image.

Black sent her a humourless smile. "Oh you're so funny, Evans. My sides are splitting," he said dryly.

"Anyway, don't let me interrupt your first class magical abilities Morland." He gestured to the alarm clock, changing the subject quickly.

"Shouldn't you be over there practising your own spell?" I demanded.

Sirius rolled his eyes and batted a careless hand. "I could perform that spell in my sleep," he replied arrogantly. "Besides, I thought I'd come over and say hello to my two _favourite_ girls. Aren't you happy to see me?" he pretended to pout but his usual look of conceit still presided on his face.

I desperately looked around the room in search of McGonagall. I knew from past experience she did not appreciate students wandering around her classroom when she had set them work to do, however she was frustratingly no where to be seen. It looked as though Black was here to stay.

Trying to give the impression I wasn't rattled by his presence I shrugged and flourished my wand, "Transfigaro Contartum."

Both Sirius and Lily's eyes were fixed on the clock as it shook itself into a new form, twisting this way and that until it let out a loud, "Sqwark!"

Black's barking laughter boomed through the air as a large fat chicken emerged from my spell, prancing proudly around the desk.

He slapped me hard on the back, "Ha ha ha! Close!" he said, his eyes practically welling up. "I _can_ see how you would confuse a dove and a chicken with an eating problem," he admitted sarcastically.

My overweight chicken started to peck at Lily's textbook which lay innocently next to it, flinging it up into the air with his beak before letting it fall lamely to the floor. At this Black let out a new round of laughter and doubled over.

Even through my immense embarrassment I had to admit it was sort of funny, though I inwardly cursed Black for making me nervous enough to make a mess of my spell. The entire class now looked on as it flew into Black's arms and he picked it up and held it high above his head, brandishing it to the class. "I give you Cheryl Morland's pure white dove" he called loudly. A peal of laughter erupted. _That_ I did not find quite so funny. _Stupid Black_.

Without so much as a word I noticed Lily pointing her wand discreetly at Black's back muttering an unknown cantation.

Laughter burst from my lips as I watched a great stream of creamy poo come flowing from the chicken backside right onto Black's perfect head of shiny hair. The entire class joined in as it dripped satisfyingly down his face. "Oh my God," I breathed, unable to believe what had happened. Lily grinned and bit her lip at her own handiwork.

Black let out a cry of disgust and dropped the chicken to the floor in an instant, his expression livid. He swung back one of his legs ready to put his very large boot in the poor bird's offending hole, but at that moment a very cross looking McGonagall re-entered the room.

"What on earth is going on here?" she demanded, having obviously overheard the students loud bursts of laughter from all the way down the hallway.

With a flick of her wrist Lily changed the flapping chicken back into a clock and, unable to halt his momentum, Black pushed his disobedient foot forward and kicked the silver piece of plastic and metal at full speed across the room. It hit the blackboard with a loud clang and fell to the floor, ringing incessantly.

Everyone's eyes darted from one side of the room to the other as if watching a tennis match. From Black to the bird, back to Black, then the clock, and finally settling on McGonagall.

The Transfiguration professor seemed at a loss with Black's actions. She stared wide eyed from the source of the noise to the poop coated offender, in a state of shock.

I couldn't help but laugh quietly. Black was so in for it.

"To my office Mr Black," she squawked at him. "And if you know what's good for you, I suggest you make it snappy." She clicked her fingers impatiently.  
"Lest I become tempted to transfigure _you_ into a clock, and have my wicked way with _you_ across the classroom."

Sirius shared a look of amusement with Potter across the room. "I would love for you to have your wicked way with me any day Minerva," Black told her, grinning now.

This garnered a few titters from the ready audience.

McGonagall gave him a steely smile. "Oh trust me Mr Black, you really wouldn't want my foot up your backside. I have recently developed a preference for pointed shoes."

At this the whole class erupted into laughter.

Sirius smirked and shook his head, taking a bow at he made to leave.

"Don't forget to clean the chicken shit off your head, Siri dear!" Marlene called after him.

Cue another round of laughter, this time at Black's expense.

Luckily McGonagall had chosen this moment to feign deafness as she made her way calmly to her desk.

Black gave us a rather rude hand gesture before he left the room.

Black: 0, The girls:1


	10. The Doppelganger

**Chapter 10**

**'The Doppelganger'**

During dinner later that evening I received a rather embarrassing letter sent to me by my mother. It wasn't the contents that were shaming so much as the way it was delivered.

Our rather dense family owl, Henry, unfortunately seems to harbour a penchant for the theatrics.

I watched as he came swooping grandly into the Great Hall, my letter clasped securely in his beak. Henry took one look at the ready audience of dining students and his natural tendencies kicked in.

Dutifully he performed a gambol trick my younger brother had made the mistake of teaching him a few months ago, using momentum to flap himself into a full circle. Finally he finished with what he must've thought was a dramatic flourish by tossing my letter into the air and letting it sail down to me.

It landed right into the punch bowl in front of me, a splash of orange liquid spottling anyone lucky enough to be in the vicinity. A cheer and sarcastic applause erupted from the Slytherin table.

As soon as Henry realised his mistake he gave one apologetic hoot before disappearing quickly from the same window he came in.

"Blooming show off bird" I muttered mutinously.

Next to me I found Sally in hysterics.

"Oh Merlin" she breathed, wiping a few stray drips of pumpkin juice from her cheek with a napkin. "Your bird is hilarious!" She cracked up into laughter again, and I gave her a dry look in reply. Even Lily had to bite back her grin.

Using my forefinger and thumb in a pincer action I carefully retrieved my letter with a grimace and flopped it onto the table at the side of my plate. It was absolutely sodden. Instead of tearing the envelope as one normally would I was forced to scoop the wet paper out of the way until the red stained letter inside was visible.

The sight of it made Sally let out yet another short burst of a giggle, forcing her face to be serious when I shot her an unimpressed glower.

Opening the damp paper out as carefully as I could to avoid rippage, I tried to discern the now blurred handwriting.

_'Cheryl,_

_You've forgotten some of your school books love, I found them half underneath your bed yesterday morning. You really should keep your room a bit tidier._

_I won't be able to send them for a while yet. They're too heavy to post by owl and we're running fresh out of Floo Powder. I'm sure you can borrow what you need from the school library just for now. Hope you're having fun back at Hogwarts, it's strange not having you around!_

_Lots of love, _

_Mum'_

"Great" I murmured.

"What is it?" Dorcas questioned, looking concerned.

"Oh, it's nothing important" I assured. "I left some of my books behind in my rush job packing. I need to go and borrow some out for now."

Quickly shovelling in a few more spirals of my now pumpkin juice splattered pasta, I told my friends I'd meet them later and made my way begrudgingly to the library.

x

I was pleased to find the library exactly as I'd left it a year ago. Good old Madam Pince at her desk still glowering at potential book offenders.

Granted, she has a few more bulging veins at her temples than I remembered, but I suppose that's one of the downsides to being a human hawk. Bless her.

After what felt like forever I scanned the index on each of the shelves for the final time, searching for the last book to add to my already teetering collection: 'Animagi:The Why's and Wherefore's'. It had been on the list required for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

I soon found that I may as well have been searching for the Holy Grail. Ten minutes passed and I was starting to question it's existence. Finally I spotted what appeared to be the one solitary copy on the highest shelf of the last bookcase. Just my luck. I eyed up the height difference between myself and the shelf. It had to be at least six and a half feet up.

Stretching up onto my tiptoes I sprawled my fingers skyward. I felt a strained noise escape my chest as I just about managed to touch the base of the spine. My body wobbled and I finally collapsed, red faced and probably sweating, back to my feet with still no book in my hand. "What a nightmare" I muttered, glancing around for any step ladders.

Of course there were none. Students were expected to keep their wand with them at all times. After spending a full year away from the magical world, I had not yet managed to acclimatise myself and carrying a wand around with me at all times felt as alien as it probably does for an average man to carry around a handbag.

After trying one last fruitless attempt to reach up I made a decision to take my already massive pile of books back to my Dormitory and come back later, wand in tow. However a small tap on my shoulder stopped me abruptly in my tracks. The person behind me coughed to attract my attention. I swivelled around surprised, having not heard anyone approach.

The grey eyed boy looked back at me, an amused expression dancing across his face. "Need some help?" he asked, his amusement clearly evident in his voice.

My breath caught in my throat. It was Sirius. I became suddenly very aware of how red and flustered I probably was from exertion.

I shot him a dirty look, "No thank you" I replied curtly. I wasn't that desperate.

But Black just ignored me, nodding to the book he had obviously had fun watching me struggle for. "It was that one wasn't it" he asked looking at me expectantly.

I narrowed my eyes at him, not responding. Instead I busied myself collecting the many heavy tomes I had to take back to my bedroom, a brief image entering my mind of hitting Black over the head with one and making a run for it. It made me smirk.

"Accio Animagi Book' he spoke confidently. Black held out the book out to me and our eyes met briefly. I couldn't believe he was being this nice for genuine, there had to be some ulterior motive.

I took it quickly from his grasp, not allowing him enough time to snatch it back. Without another word I made to take myself and my toppling pile of books out of there. Except he wasn't going to let me get away that easily.

"I think the word you're looking for is 'thank-you'" he called after me, annoyance ladening his tone.

I looked back over my shoulder incredulously. He could fetch me a thousand books and I still would not thank Sirius Black. I had my pride. "Listen Black" I started, confrontation evident in my voice, "I didn't ask for your help, and I certainly did not want it."

With that I threw the book he had summoned for me back onto the table next to him. It was extremely lucky we were hidden behind a bookshelf away from Madam Pince. She would have had my head for treating library property with so little care.

"Put it back if you're that bothered." I said to a very taken aback Black. "I'll fetch it myself later."

Again I tried to muster all of my dignity and escape the musty room, but again something happened to prevent me. A loud thud hit the floor just behind me, whatever it was missing my head by a mere inch. I could feel the breeze from it waft my hair.

Looking down at the cause I saw the trouble causing Animagi book now strewn haphazardly on the floor behind me. I peered back up only to find that Black had _thrown_ it at me. I didn't even get a chance to be anywhere near angry, however, because an eardrum piercing shriek sounded around the room.

Unfortunately for him it seemed that this time Madam Pince had seen everything. She made a direct beeline for us, the vein in her head positively bulging. "Mr Black!" she screamed, ironically loudly considering she was always telling everyone else to be quiet. "What a disgusting way to treat a book! Have you no respect for things that are older than yourself?" she demanded, her eyes popping as if on stalks.

Black looked like he was actually stopping to think about that one. It seemed to infuriate the librarian further. "Four weeks detention and ten points from Slytherin!" she exclaimed.

I furrowed my eyebrows, Sirius was in Gryffindor. Why was Pince taking points off our rival team as a punishment for him?

I studied the now scowling boy still being berated by Pince, his stance proud and his jaw jutting out stubbornly. The realisation suddenly hit me. I'd made a horrible mistake.

I looked back at Sirius's younger doppelganger. The likeness was definitely uncanny, but the more I looked at him the more the slight differences were highlighted. Sirius's brother was quite a deal thinner and paler for a start. He looked less like a catalogue model and more like just an average kid. His height measured up to be around the same though.

The memory of Sirius's disgust as his younger brother had been sorted into Slytherin flashed into my mind. Indeed I had to wonder what a Slytherin was doing helping me out. It was very rare for them to offer their help to any one, let alone a Gryffindor.

But for some inescapable reason I felt a wash of guilt pass over me. Perhaps he was aware I didn't get on with his brother and recognised a kindred spirit? Or perhaps there was something more to it.

Either way, frankly I felt sorry for anyone who had to put up with Sirius as a housemate.

I carried on out of the library and waited just outside the double doors, unsure what I would say to him but for some reason feeling the need to explain myself.

Finally Pince's rant ended and the other Black brother emerged looking incredibly annoyed. Possibly for good reason.

When he spotted me leaning against the wall he scowled horribly. If looks could kill I would have been sprawled across the stone floor. Without another word he turned and started in the opposite direction muttering mutinously to himself.

I found myself hurrying to catch up with him. "You're Sirius's brother, right?" I asked, struggling to maintain the alarming pace of the long-legged boy.

He ignored me so I made the mistake of tapping his back with my hand, again trying to attract his attention.

He stopped suddenly, in the blink of an eye brandishing his wand. "What do you want, Gryffindor" he demanded, his wand now pointed dangerously at my chest.

I held my hands up in surprise, "Hey, there's no need for that!" I exclaimed.

The Black brother rolled his eyes and stashed his weapon. "Well?" he demanded.

My mind went blank momentarily as to why exactly I had followed him. "I thought you were Sirius" I finally rushed out.

He looked at me as if I was insane in the membrane.

"Back then, in the library" I tried to explain. "You look so much like your brother and, well, he and I don't get on. Well, that's an understatement really, and-"

He cut off my babbling, "I already know he doesn't like you" he said.

I was a bit put out by that. "I don't like him either" I replied a little defensively.

Black snorted at that. "If you say so" he said.

"Is that why you helped me?" I asked curiously. "Because you knew I don't get along with your brother?"

He shrugged, "Something like that."

He took a step toward me, his expression softening. "For future reference, I am _Regulus_ Black.

"You can recognise me as the better of the brothers" he said a little pompously.

"Well Regulus, that's not really a very big feat, is it?" I replied.

He raised his eyebrows, but the corner of his lips tugged upward. "Come with me" he gestured. "Quickly, though" he added, glancing cautiously around to see if any fellow Slytherins were watching the exchange.

We walked to a private stone bench, obscured by shrubs and located around a metre underneath the Charms class window. "So, I have to say I feel sorry for you" I started, taking a cold seat. "Living with Sirius, it must be a nightmare."

Regulus skipped his eyebrows. "You have no idea" he replied quietly.

"I can't believe you're in Slytherin" I voiced without thinking. He seemed almost _normal. _Well, at least a lot more normal than Sirius.

"That's where I belong" Regulus replied defensively. "All self-respecting members of the Black family are in Slytherin." He chanted it as if reading from an autocue.

I pursed my lips, unable to stop myself from reaching unflattering conclusions about his parents.

"Don't look like that" he reproved hotly. I lowered my eyes to avoid the same penetrating gaze that his brother had.

"Not all Slytherin's are entirely evil, just the same as not all Gryffindor's are saints" Regulus argued.

I looked skeptically back at him. Until now, I had never once met a Slytherin I liked.

But Regulus wasn't finished. "You've already implied that you think Sirius's behaviour is questionable at the least, and yet he is in Gryffindor. Whereas I have done nothing but try to help you. What does that tell you about your stereotypes?" he demanded.

"Ok" I relented. "You have a point. But up until now you're the first Slytherin I've met that even half way tolerable."

Regulus smiled a little. "You know, for a Gryffindor you're very judgmental" he commented. "Perhaps you should have been in the dreaded Slytherin after all?"

He was smirking now in a way that reminded me of Sirius. "I'm happy where I am, thanks" I replied.

He nodded slowly. "Anyway. I have to go now" he said. "It has been _different,_ meeting you, to say the least. I'd appreciate if you did not tell anyone I deigned to speak with a Gryffindor."

With that he was gone.


	11. Bad Judge of Character

**Chapter 11**

**Bad Judge of Character**

Later that night Marlene leaped onto my bed from her own, bouncing me a foot into the air and forcing a girlish squeal from my mouth.

She guffawed and lounged next to me. "I'm not going to lie" she said fixing me with her bright blue stare."The stunt you lot pulled against Black definitely has it's high points, but there's just something missing."

She looked to the ceiling dramatically as if for inspiration. "It just doesn't have that certain_ je ne sais quoi_" she said in a bad French accent.

"What?" I replied with a snort.

Marlene looked at me as if it were obvious, "_I mean._..he humiliates you in front of the entire school, you humiliate him in front of the entire school. He sees us half naked, we see him-"

Sally's head shot up, an evil glint in her eye.

"Marlene you are halfway to becoming a genius" she said, obviously cooking up a plan.

Marlene grinned. "I have my moments" she admitted.

"Honestly, is it worth it?" I interrupted aloud. "They'll only think of something even worse to get us back."

Lily nodded. "Maybe Cheryl's right" she agreed.

But Marlene looked at us as if we'd suggested naked dancing in the library. "Of course it's worth it" she said. "I thought you were all upset about their mirror trick, have you forgotten that?" she demanded.

I flickered my eyes. "No, of course not" I replied, but as much as I hated to admit it they were the natural born pranksters, not us.

Sally glanced over at me, "Sirius is always going on about how great Potter's folks are, Cheryl, James's parents would be the perfect way of getting him to let his guard down. Any gift from them would be sure to go down well with him. It's fool proof-"

Lily and I shared a skeptical look.

"Plus Sirius's birthday is coming up." Sally continued. "We're never going to get another opportunity like this."

x

I strolled back into the bedroom after my shower and noticed both Sally and Lily had gone to their own rooms for the night.

Mary McDonald and Dorcas had replaced them, the former being an unwelcome addition. I still couldn't believe I had to share a room with her, I never knew where I stood with her. One minute she was alright, the next she was in a mood.

It came as a bit of a shock then when she held out a licorice wand to me as I walked past. "Want one?" she offered.

"No thanks" I replied, trying my best to smile.

There was something different about her. She looked...happy.

"So, how's it going?" I asked curiously.

"Brilliant" she replied with a grin. "I just saw the guy I fancy for the first time in days" she beamed.

Ah.

"Oh."

"Anthony Javerhops" she sighed with a swoon. "He's so lush!"

"Ah, cool...' I replied, kicking myself for using the word 'cool'.

A strange scraping noise on the door caught our attention and all heads turned sharply. It sounded like someone's nails scratching down the hard wood. Like an animal of some sort. My heart leapt.

It went quiet and Mary got up slowly, her face deadly serious now. She crept over to the source of the noise as if whatever it was would hear her footsteps and burst through the door.

"It's half eleven" I stated as though that should be reason enough not to open it.

She pushed her ginger hair against the door and listened.

The scratching noise starting up again louder and more frantic this time, sharp nails carving into the wood. Mary jumped back.

"Don't answer" Dorcas called suddenly, her face twisted in fright.

But Mary's hand was already on the door knob, she pulled it open a crack and her eyes widened.

"What is it?" I called, the suspense killing me. She was stood stock still as if unable to move.

"What's going on?" Marlene called impatiently.

Finally Mary bent down and picked something up off the floor, turning around with a confused expression. "There was no-one there" she said.

"What's that in your hand?" Marlene demanded. Mary turned the note over in her hands. "C.M." she read aloud.

"They're your initials, aren't they?" Marlene looked at me accusingly as if I'd had a hand in all this.

Mary shrugged and handed me the folded slip of parchment. My heart pounded as I forced myself to open it out.

_'Morland, it's Sirius.' _I let out an audible sigh and rolled my eyes. Sodding Black. How did he even get up the girl's staircase, wasn't it supposed to be tricked out like a fun house slide or something?

_Don't forget our meeting tomorrow evening' _the scrolled handwriting reminded me. Yeah, the one I had never actually agreed to.

'_It's important. M__eet me in the Common Room at 18.30pm._

_N.B. Come alone, I mean it.'_

A different handwriting had then scrawled 'Siriously', but it had been furiously scribbled out. I suspected James had tried and failed to make a tired joke at his friend's expense.

Only then did I notice a small P.S. right at the bottom of the page. _'Oh, and don't let MacKinnon snatch this from you'_ it warned.

I furrowed my eyebrows and as if by clockwork felt the paper being swiped from my hands. "Hey" I exclaimed at the curly haired girl.

But I needn't have worried, as soon as the paper touched her hand it gave a quiet fizzle and melted quickly away, dissolving into thin air.

"What the-?" Marlene exclaimed, her eyes wide.

I had to hand it to him, Sirius was nothing if not resourceful.

x

Ok, so I was obviously going to go meet with Black. I had to find out what he wanted. For him to come out and ask me to meet him like that was most definitely not the norm. Frankly he was acting strangely, and it was wigging me out to say the least. We had never had a single conversation or meeting that didn't involve some kind of fight to get the upper hand.

It was that fact that put doubt in my mind about his real intentions. Black clearly could _not_ be trusted.

Telling Lily alone that I was going to meet him, I headed off to the common room at quarter past six in the evening; on my own, just like his note had stated. I knew I was absolutely insane to be doing it, but some invisible force seemed to be pushing me onward. Most likely sheer curiosity.

Surely even Black wasn't heartless enough to trick a poor defenseless girl. Even if I had covered him in chicken crap. The image made me want to laugh even now.

I had left Marlene, Sally and Lily sitting chatting on the benches in the Transfiguration courtyard, and I was relying on Lily not to go blabbing to them about where I was going. There was no way Marlene would have let me go meet Black and the boys on my own. She would never let herself be too far away from where she thought the heart of the action was. Besides, I had a feeling she had a soft spot for James, which he obviously didn't return, and so would not want to miss out on a chance meeting with him.

I finally climbed the last set of stairs leading up to the Gryffindor Common Room. I had forgotten how positively huge Hogwarts really was. It took forever to get from one side to the other.

Pushing open the door I stepped inside with some shock. It was practically deserted. The Common Room was never deserted, it was usually a throng of activity and hubbub. I could feel the hairs on my arms prickle, something didn't feel right.

I soon located Black at the far corner of the room, lounging in a chair at a small round table by the window. For probably the first time in his school life he seemed to be alone.

Making my way over with a mixture of trepidation and utter confusion he finally spotted me and I noticed him straighten immediately, his casual stance now alert. Resting a brief hand on the table he stood to his full height. Merlin, did Black seem tall. It was strange, being on his own should have made him seem more vulnerable, but now it only seemed to give him an aura of mystery. With no one around to bear witness to his actions he made me feel more nervous than ever. He could do anything and no one would ever know.

I glanced around reflexively; there were a couple of students dotted around on the other side of the large room, but I could tell even from over here they were too wrapped up in their own conversations to take any notice of us. Talking animatedly about something or other, probably what a great weekend they were having with the vast amounts of sunshine we had been lucky enough to get.

Black made no pretence about eyeing me up as I walked over to him, staring at me with an indecipherable expression. As soon as I got within reaching distance his hand lashed out in my direction, grabbing at me with lightning speed. He gripped my arm easily in his hand and, with a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, pulled me through a doorway I can honestly say I had never even noticed, let alone been in before. At that moment I was scared.

Once inside the new surroundings I pulled my arm forcefully from his grasp, feeling more than a little annoyed at his constant manhandling of me. I looked around me.

The room was a good deal larger and higher in size than a store cupboard, but it felt confined due to the many large shelving units lining it. They looked like they had been taken straight out of the library, but instead of housing books, were covered from top to bottom in old, dusty trophies. Trophies celebrating feats I had never even heard of. 'Evelyn Togue. Presented with this much coveted award for Toad Warbling' lay just behind Black's head.

"What the hell is this?" I demanded, trying not to let my fear get the better of me. "If this is some kind of prank you should know that Lily knows exactly where I am." I felt my voice waver pathetically and could have kicked myself. I wasn't coming across as strong at all, more like a scared little girl.

Black seemed to pick up on it and remained unconcerned. "Lily knows you're in an old trophy store room, hidden in the common room behind a unicorn tapestry? I seriously doubt that Morland."

"What do you want?" I asked, giving up on any charade that help was coming for me.

He seemed to hold my stare for an eternity before he answered. I could practically see the cogs working behind his eyes, but to what extent I still did not know. His eyes searched my face for the umpteenth time, an act that would have made me self conscious had I not been trying furiously to read his mind.

"I heard about the chat you had with my brother" he finally stated. Before I had a chance to reply he cut me off, "Regulus is little better than a loose cannon. If you know what's good for you you'll stay away from him."

I looked back at him dubiously. I had found Regulus to be far more tolerable than Black had ever been, courteous even. Is this really what Black had called a meeting about, just to warn me about someone I would probably never talk to again anyway.

Sirius took a step toward me, pinning me again with his eyes. "Are you listening to me, Morland?" he demanded.

"How did you know I spoke to your brother?" I asked slowly.

Sirius shrugged. "He told me." He paused as if to say more. Finally he let out an annoyed breath of air, shaking his head. "You really should learn to choose your friends more wisely you know" he finally said. "To count my brother among them shows a _really_ bad judge of character on your part, Morland... There's a reason he's in Slytherin."

"He told you?" I echoed.

Sirius nodded once. "He practically bragged to me about it afterwards."

"Why would he think you would care?" I mused aloud. Regulus had told me he knew Sirius and I didn't get along, why would he think Sirius would be bothered if we had spoken?

"How am I supposed to know?" he replied. "Regulus is a law onto himself, who knows what goes through his head. He's not right."

"This is what you called me here to tell me?" I asked in disbelief.

Sirius shook his head. "No, not originally" he said simply.

I narrowed my eyes at him. He was being annoyingly unresponsive as usual. "Listen Black, we spoke _once_. But even if he was my best friend in the whole wide world I'm failing to see what it's got to do with you. What do you care?" I asked.

Black eyed me up. "Call it a public service" he finally said.

"So what _did_ you ask me to meet you for?" I asked, ignoring his cryptic comments.

"It doesn't matter now" he dismissed, looking toward the door as he made to leave. Taking a step away from me and toward the door he turned back, "Just do as I say and stay away from Reg" he said. "He's more than you can handle."

I stared back at him, words failing me. Just who the hell did he think he was, ordering me around like this?

Without really thinking I closed my hand around his shirt sleeve, effectively pulling him back. He turned his head in surprise, looking down at me questioningly. Our eyes met and I became acutely aware of how alone we were in this abandoned trophy room. No one knew we were here. I felt my mind go instantly blank. I couldn't even remember what I was originally going to say, making me feel frustrated.

"Well?" he asked, glancing down at my hand still grasped tightly around his cotton sleeve.

I dropped my offending limb quickly, becoming suddenly aware that Sirius had been the first boy to see me in just my underwear. I felt a renewed anger wash over me at the thought; Black had robbed me of what should have been an intimate moment. What's more he had shared it with half the population of Gryffindor boys.

"Why did you spy on us through the mirror?" I demanded, searching his face. Now would probably be the one and only time I would be able to get a straight answer from him, we were alone and there was no one around for him to show off in front of.

Sirius glanced yet again at the door as he wanted nothing more than to escape from this awkward situation. For once he actually seemed uncomfortable, shifting from one foot to the other. "All's fair in love and war" he shrugged finally.

I furrowed my eyebrows, desperately wanting to scream at him, to do anything just to make him feel a shred of remorse. A part of me wanted to tell him that I'd never even properly kissed a boy, let alone stripped in front of one and what he had done to me had been completely out of order. But I couldn't confess all that to him, instead of feeling guilty he'd probably just laugh and use every future opportunity he could to throw it in my face.

I felt my eyes starting to well up from anger and the injustice of it all and had to bite back the sudden urge to cry. His careless attitude was just so infuriating, but I wouldn't give him the privilege of seeing me break down.

"You just don't get it, do you?" I shook my head. "I have feelings just like everyone else."

"None of the other girls seemed bothered by it" he shrugged again. "You need to loosen up Beaver" he said.

"Don't call me Beaver!" I shrieked suddenly, my hand flailing out violently at his torso. It rebounded off his chest as though doing no more harm than a child's slap.

He looked down at me increduously.

"Don't ever call me that name again" I warned more calmly, my expression serious.

Black held his hands up, "Ok, whatever! Merlin..." He looked at me as though I had grown an extra head.

"Besides" he added, more quietly now, "We didn't see much anyway. If you hadn't stormed off you'd have noticed how small the mirror we were looking into actually was. Prongs has a knack of stirring up excitement and when you all came in it went into overdrive."

I raised a curious eyebrow at him, unsure of whether to believe what he was saying.

"Ignoring the stupid pun" he continued, ducking his knees to look into my face with a faint smile on his lips, "You need to stop taking things so seriously all the time...you might find you have a lot more fun."

His eye twitched in what I thought was a wink and he was gone, leaving me to replay what he had said.

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A/N As always thanks so much for the reviews I've already received, as well as the story favs/alerts and everything. We reached the 100 review mark -x dances around her laptop excitedly x- so a special thanks to that reviewer. I can't believe it!


	12. Crushed

**Thanks to Lizzy0308, Sway, ClaireMarieCullen, Aku15, Rhoda, SiriusKrazy81, SweetClover92 and last but not least chocxcookie for your reviews and support. You reminded me why I shouldn't give up on something that's spanned, what, over three years now? In fact thanks to all of my reviewers/readers past and present. I think you're all amazing. What a love fest this is turning into! Enjoy the chapter!**

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**Chapter 12**

**Crushed**

"Hey, wake up!"

I blinked and forced my eyes open a crack against the bright light of morning. From what they could tell me it was just after sunrise.

My focus drifted to the other bright haze of orange in my peripheral vision. Only this one seemed to have a face and seemed annoyingly insistent on waking me up.

"What is it, Mary?" I mumbled groggily at the curly flame haired girl.

"Remember how I was telling you yesterday about Ant?" her words spilled out rushed and excited.

Before I could say anything she was practically shouting out, "He's heading a lesson in rugby and it starts-" she checked her watch quickly, "Right now! Come on!"

"Rugby?" I questioned, still half asleep. "But that's a Muggle game-"

"It's part of Muggle Studies" she answered impatiently. "Now come on or it'll have finished."

I felt her tug on my blankets, trying to prise them from my rigid hands.

There was only one thought going through my mind at that moment; what the heck had happened to the real Mary? Mary was sour-faced, she was dry, she was dare I say a bit of a cowbag.

She was not an enthusiastic ball of fun, and she most definitely did not want me of all people to accompany her anywhere.

I let the confusion show on my face. Obviously this was a dream, but dreams usually weren't quite as forceful in dragging me from my comfortable bed covers. I shook her grabbing hand off.

"Why me?" I finally asked.

"Because you know how I feel about Anthony" she insisted wide eyed "and, well" she looked sheepish now "you're the only one who doesn't have a morning lesson."

Ah, so there was the real reason she wanted me to go with her, she had no one else.

Well she could just go alone. There was no way I was missing my lie in for a girl who didn't even like me. Not a chance.

x

"Hut!" yelled a particularly beefy looking young man down on the Quidditch field. A massive scrum ensued made up of the largest boys from the Quidditch teams. Shoulders bashed together like massive rock boulders.

Ok, so I caved. You try resisting a maniacal love struck girl pulling you by the feet from your bed.

Besides it turns out it's actually quite entertaining, seeing the normally none physical Quidditch teams get down and dirty on the grass.

The lesson had apparently been suggested by Professor Cringle, the teacher of Muggle Studies as a 'practical and informing' lesson on Muggle sports.

As a half blood Mary's crush, Anthony Javerhops, had been chosen to tutor the teams on the rules and act as a sort of referee as he had first hand experience of playing away from Hogwarts. He was doing a pretty good job of it too, everyone seemed to like him, though it was obvious the Slytherins resented taking part in anything Muggle.

It was just too bad for them that Professor Cringle had strong influences with their Head of House, Slughorn. Cringle's granddaughter was a particularly good chaser on the Holy Hippogriffs national Quidditch team. Slughorn couldn't resist a good trade- tickets for Slytherin cooperation.

The small crowd that had gathered in the stands cheered suddenly; a muscular Ravenclaw beater had lobbed the oval ball with tremendous force and sent it spinning over the goal posts.

From her seat next to me Mary booed. Ravenclaw were teamed with Slytherin for this match.

She had been jumping up and down in her seat all through the game trying to catch Anthony's eye. It made me long for a rope, gag and extensive knowledge in hog tying. It seemed she had got it bad for the rugby playing Hufflepuff.

I looked down at the field at him, his deep voice calling instructions to the players. He was attractive in a brawny sort of way, his brown hair short and styled, but he was nothing to call home about.

"Well done Potter!" he hollered enthusiastically. James had wrestled the ball from a Slytherin and was now using his long athletic legs to sprint the length of the field.

"Go on mate!" encouraged an equally loud voice on the other side of the stands. Black sat cheering his friend on.

"Oof" he grimaced. A massive Slytherin had tackled Potter to the ground.

Potter went flying, the ball flung from his outstretched hands. The sight of my old tormentor sprawled ungracefully on the floor caused a short burst of laughter to issue from my mouth.

A few of the nearby Gryffindors shot me dirty looks at my obvious lack of loyalty, but I feigned innocence, silently storing the hilarious image safely in my memory bank.

"Aw look at Anthony, he's so caring" Mary gushed as he ran to see if Potter was alright.

James brushed him off tersely, obviously embarrassed at his own gaff. He glanced around furtively probably looking for a flash of red in the stands. Luckily for him Lily wasn't here to see it.

x

"He's coming" Mary hissed in an undertone as Anthony made his way past us after the match. She sniggered to me girlishly making me laugh. It was just so different to how she usually was.

He caught us both looking and shot us a confused smile, obviously wondering what we found so funny. I was wondering that myself, honestly Mary's giggling was infectious.

As he passed us he looked over his shoulder, the smile still there but his cheeks tinged a faint pink. I didn't know what he had to be embarrassed about, we were the ones acting like primary schoolgirls.

Just then I spotted two familiar dark heads making their way past back toward the castle. I hadn't spoken to Black since he warned me away from Regulus, and I had no care to. I was sick of him and his sarcastic remarks and purposefully cryptic comments.

The world would be a much happier place if he would just leave me alone.

I readied myself for whatever he would throw at me as he came past with a very muddy looking James.

But he breezed past Mary and I without so much as a glance. Like I, I mean we, had been carefully cut out of his vision.

I watched the back of his perfect head walk away and for some reason found myself incredulous, not disappointed he had blanked me of course, it was just _odd_.

Something churned in the pit of my stomach but I fought it back. No way was I hurt he had ignored me, no way. This was a good thing, it meant he was finally over teasing me. Definitely a good thing.

I bit my lip. "I've got to go" I muttered, ignoring the unpleasant sensation still wriggling in my stomach.

I had a DADA lesson to get to.

x

I walked out of my Defense lesson only to be greeted with a particularly odd looking Mary waiting outside.

"Anthony told me to ask you to meet him."

I furrowed my eyebrows at Mary's large blank eyes, her voice toneless and nothing like the excited babble it had previously been.

"What?" was all I managed. Surely there had been some kind of mistake.

"No joke" she said in the same dull voice, "He wants to meet you"

"But...why?" I stammered.

She snorted humourlessly. "Isn't it obvious?"

I didn't dare ask anymore. Despite her facade it was obvious she was really upset. This was not going to help our faltering friendship one bit.

"What's going on?" Dorcas approached us a pleasant smile on her face, until she took in Mary's expression. "Is everything alright?" she asked me.

"Yeah it's fine." I reassured her.

"One of my friends has asked Cheryl out" Mary blurted out. I didn't like the accusation in her voice.

"Oh" Dorcas seemed taken aback. She looked at me uncertainly, "Well, that's...nice"

I gave her a small uneasy smile.

"So anyway" for some reason the volume of Mary's voice was escalating. "Are you going to meet him?" she looked pointedly at me.

"Of course not" I assured her, "You like him. I wouldn't-"

Dorcas's face lit up in understanding, her expression became concerned.

"Don't worry about me" Mary reassured falsely, "If you like him go ahead"

How did I tell her I had absolutely no interest in him without hurting her feelings, without making it seem like I didn't care he had chosen me over her?

"I'm interested in someone else" I lied.

Mary's face looked unconvinced.

"She told me about him the other night Mary" Dorcas tried to join in.

"Why didn't you tell me when I told you about Anthony then? Who is it?" Mary demanded.

"It's a secret"

"It's Sirius" Dorcas chorused the conflicting answer at the exact same time.

I balked and looked around at her, "_What?_"

She looked apologetically up at me. I flickered my eyes.

"You like Sirius?" Mary asked me.

"Apparently so"

Mary nodded slowly. "I'll tell Ant then"

I grabbed her arm to stop her escaping. "No, don't. It's a secret."

"Sirius doesn't even know" Dorcas added helpfully.

"Fine" Mary relented. "I'll just tell him you're not interested. See you later"

I turned my attention to Dorcas. She looked even smaller than ever, it was impossible to be angry with her for long.

"You do realise what you've done, don't you?" I asked her.

"I'm so sorry" she said genuinely.

I shook my head. "Mary is the biggest loudmouth in Hogwarts." I let out a sigh of despair.

Sirius was going to have fun with this one.

x

I approached my Herbology lesson with no small amount of dread. I was only too aware that Black had this lesson, and I was almost definite that Mary would have told him about Dorcas's outburst.

_I_ like Sirius. Me, of all people. How ridiculous.

Perhaps I should go out with this Ant boy just to prove how much I _don't_ like Sirius. Unfortunately, he just wasn't my type.

I entered the pleasantly warm greenhouses and spotted them straight away. Potter and Black were sat at the seats farthest away from the door.

When I walked in Potter immediately leaned over to his friend and I noticed them both glance over at me. I couldn't read their expression from this distance, but their mutterings officially ended all hope that Mary had finally received her personally transplant and not told the world and it's cousin of my new 'crush'.

"They're looking at you again" Lily muttered underneath her breath.

I pretended to stretch my back and chanced a quick glance over at the two boys.

"Actually James is looking at you, Lily" I corrected making her blush becomingly. It was true, James was giving her weird goo goo eyes. As soon as he noticed me looking he feigned indifference and looked lazily away.

Sirius on the other hand seemed to be avoiding eye contact altogether. I wasn't sure what his new tactic was, but it was like he had gotten bored with the constant point scoring with me. He seemed, well, over it.

"Are you sure Black was looking?" I asked Lily.

She seemed uncertain. "Hmm, perhaps it was just Potter then."

I shrugged.

x

"Right then, pack away the apparatus and you may go" Professor Sprout addressed the class. "But don't forget your essay on the warble root."

Black raised his hand.

"And no Mr Black, 'the dog ate my manuscript' is not an acceptable excuse for missing pages. We don't even allow dogs at Hogwarts" she muttered irritably.

Black lowered his hand and Potter gave him a nudge with his elbow. They both grinned like they knew something the rest of us didn't.

"Your NEWTS will come around before you know it" Sprout continued, undeterred, "don't be the only one who cannot achieve a career after Hogwart's because of poor performance in your school life."

Black muttered something to Potter and they both laughed again.

With that everyone started to pack away.

So that was it.

I wasn't sure how, but I had gotten through a whole lesson with Black without so much as a peep from him about Mary's blabbing.

x

I stepped into my room after our evening meal only to be greeted by one solitary person. Mary MacDonald.

My insides twisted. Great, another guilt trip about her beloved Ant, like it was my fault he clearly had no loyalty or respect for her.

I know it sounds harsh, but why else would he tell her about his crush on one of her friends when it was so obvious _she_ liked him.

It seemed like he was playing games, and I didn't like it.

"Ant has said it's fine if you don't like him, but please would you go and meet him at eight by the lake."

There was no smile for me this time.

I glanced at the clock:

19:15.

"Why?" I asked her, the impatience showing in my voice.

She shrugged. "No idea, he just wants to see you. He really seems to like you" she added a little bitterly.

I was unable to hold back my eye roll. Ant was getting more annoying by the second.

He didn't even know me to have any sort of feelings for me, and now Mary hated me. Thanks Ant, really.

"Just meet him, would you?" Mary requested. "Maybe then he'll stop going on about you"

When he's seen what I'm really like you mean?

"Fine."

Without another word I grabbed my cloak and stormed down to the lake.

I felt erratic and irritated. There was no way Ant would 'go on about me' after this meeting. My mood would make sure of it.

It was getting dark early now, winter was practically upon us. Outside any traces of light were fast disappearing and the chill in the air was biting.

I pulled my cloak tighter around my body.

There was a well known area caused by the protruding castle walls that students tended to avoid at night. An area where the shadows were that much darker and a general sense of foreboding hung in the air, and it was only when I was upon it that I realised.

I cursed my stupidity. Nothing bad had ever happened there, it was just well, a bit creepy really. Not exactly a place a person would run to if they were being followed anyway.

Though come to think of it, it would probably make a fairly good hiding place what with the complete darkness and all.

The words repeated in my head, taking on a different, less palatable perspective this time.

_'It would make a good hiding place'_.

Though not just for the escapee, for the pursuer as well.

I chided myself, I was sixteen, not six.

Nevertheless I felt my feet move that little bit faster as I passed the area. There was no contrast between shades of grey one can usually make out at night. Here everything was black, the grass, the walls, the trees.

I skirted around the edges of the shadows arc, trying not to stare directly into it. I didn't want my mind to see things that weren't there.

Suddenly a growling noise echoed all around me. I couldn't help it, I glanced into the darkness.

Big. Mistake.

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**A/N: Yes it's a cliffhanger. Sorry about that. But you're all still awesome, so remember that before being too annoyed. *Laughs nervously.* I will definitely try and update soon.**

**BlackElectric x**


	13. Run for your life

**Thanks so much for your feedback, it keeps me writing! Let me know what you think of this chapter :)**

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**Chapter 13**

**Run for your life**

A figure darker than the shadows themselves shifted it's weight just a few metres from where I was stood.

One thing I was sure of, it wasn't human. No person's eyes shone that devilishly.

The low violent growl resonated through the air yet again and I knew now it had emanated from whatever that _thing_ was.

My eyes adjusted infinitesimally, cutting through the darkness until I could see the beast's vague outline; it was the size of a small bear.

I thought I could make out another large animal just behind it, but if I didn't know any better I'd have said it looked like a _deer_.

The bear let out yet another low rumbling noise from the depth of its throat, distracting my attention. When I glanced back toward the antlered creature, it had disappeared. I furrowed my eyebrows. What _were_ these things?

My hands shaking, I pulled my wand from the inside pocket of my cloak, thanking Merlin it had been cold enough to need the extra layer.

My desperation dragged the names of various spells into my mind, each one more useless than the last.

A charm for tidying, one for tying shoelaces, even one to change the shade of a person's hair. Though something told me zapping the creatures fur from ebony to pink would only make it even more ready to rampage me into oblivion.

_Think of a high impact one_ I urged myself. The killing curses. No, I couldn't. My mouth couldn't even voice them.

x

The bear-like beast took a worrying step toward me and I felt my nerve falter, but it was too late to run now. It was too close. I'd left it too late.

It leaned back on it's haunches, eyes piercing and focused- on me. I knew it was going to leap even before it happened.

A mere quarter of a second past before it lurched it's weight forward and sprang, immense and terrifying.

I screamed the first spell that shot into my mind.

The beast was met mid leap by the intense light that had erupted from my wand tip.

It's huge black body was dragged unseemly upwards, pulled snarling and furious into the air.

The fine sliver that was the moon this evening cast an eery glow on it's writhing body and I could tell now it wasn't a bear at all, it was in fact the biggest dog I had ever seen. Humongous would have been a gross understatement.

It looked almost wolfish in size and body, but wolves hadn't been reported in these parts since the eighteenth century at most. All hunted to the point of extinction.

I couldn't seem to bring myself to stop staring at it. I had honestly never seen anything like it before in my life.

The mid-air writhing had now stopped. Now it just glared, cold steel eyes gruesomely intelligent. As if securing the details of my face.

I knew this was my chance. I wasn't sure how long a basic levitation charm would work on something so heavy, even one that had been conjured with such potent desperation.

Without another glance back I ran. As fast as I could toward the lake, for the first time praying that Anthony would be early.

I could just make out the faint glimmer of the moonlight across the surface of lake in the distance. I was almost there, almost safe by the light of the lake. _Almost._

Heavy thudding footsteps echoed behind me, far too fast to be human.

I did what every horror story tells you not to, I looked back.

The man-eating dog, padding one gigantic paw after the other was coming toward me with alarming speed. The spell had broken. It was gaining on me.

And then I'm not quite sure what happened, but suddenly the deafening footsteps were gone and there was Anthony. Large and muscular, the sight of him far more welcome than I could ever have anticipated.

"Were you that excited about meeting me?" he joked as I ran at him with break neck speed. His expression was a mixture of surprise and good humour.

"Anthony" I gasped, coming to an abrupt halt in front of him.

His brow furrowed. "Are you alright?" his tone was uncertain now. He hadn't been expecting the giggling girl from earlier to be quite so intense and, well, a bit of a mess I suppose.

I bent over. My lungs seeming to burn anew with each ragged breath. My long hair whipped wildly around my face, any semblance of a style now long gone.

I finally managed to regain some sense of composure and straightened my body to look him in the eye. It was only then that I noticed just how tall he was. He towered what had to be a good six inches over me.

"You're tall" I breathed aloud, the relief making my mind a useless babble.

He just chuckled, briefly holding the back of his own neck in what I presumed to be a nervous habit.

"6ft 3" he confirmed.

I nodded slowly, inwardly grimacing at how foolish I must have looked.

"So what happened?" he asked, his face serious. "You seemed upset."

His obvious concern sent a pleasant shiver through my body.

"There was a dog" I blurted out. "It chased me."

His eyebrows rose upward.

I shook my head. "But it was too _big_. It wasn't right..." I drifted off weakly.

"It's ok" Anthony reassured, his tone calm and kind. He seemed to be in two minds whether to give me a comforting hug, in the end settling for a quick rub of my left arm.

"I think I've seen something similar skulking around the grounds before" he told me, "But I've never known if it was just my imagination playing tricks on me."

I wasn't sure if he was just saying that to make me feel better, but it worked.

x

"So how did your date go?" Marlene asked me as I tossed my cloak on the chest and collapsed on my bed.

I sighed into the palms of my hands, the image of the furious beast wavering in front of my tightly closed eyes.

"It wasn't a date" I corrected her tiredly.

"Oh" she said, taken aback, "But Mary said-"

I sent Mary an irritated questioning look.

"I thought it was" she replied would-be innocently.

"He just wanted to meet me for some reason" I explained to Marlene and the rest of the girls, avoiding eye contact with Mary. "It wasn't a date. We don't even know one another-"

"You do now" Mary cut in. "So are you officially his girlfriend?"

My blood boiled.

"No, like I said we've only just met. I don't like him like that."

Mary gave me a look of fake understanding. "Of course, I forgot. You like Sirius."

Those three simple words rang out deafening in the small room.

They seemed to reverberate around before each one finished it's circuit with a hard slap against each of my cheeks. That would certainly explain the intense blush on my usually pale face.

I glanced at the girls. All eyes were wide and focused solely on me.

Lily's mouth was agape.

Dorcas looked sheepish once again. It had been her fault Mary thought I like Sirius in the first place. I most definitely did _not_ like Sirius.

She had only said it to get me out of an awkward situation, but now she had inadvertently thrown me into an even worse one.

"You fancy Sirius?" was all Lily could muster.

"No-" I tried.

"You told me you did" Mary blurted out.

"Actually Dorcas told you I did" I corrected, my body practically shaking from embarrassment and anger. After the night I'd had this was the last thing I needed.

"So you're saying Dorcas was lying?" Mary demanded.

I looked over at Dorcas, her eyes apologising silently over and over.

"No" I said louder than necessary.

"I liked him for about an hour" I told the ginger haired girl, trying to make my voice sound more off hand than I felt. "It's old news now, I'm over it."

Lily looked like she wanted to ask me so many questions, but she couldn't seem to voice any of them around all of the girls.

"That's a shame" Mary said, her voice low and sneaky, "Because I let Sirius know that you liked him."

There was a collective gasp.

"You did what?" I practically shouted. I knew it, I knew she had. That explained the mutterings from him and Potter in Herbology. I was only surprised he hadn't approached me to brag about it. Mary was such a big mouth!

Mary forced her expression into naive confusion. "I didn't think you'd mind."

Her voice and expression were simpering until my hand urged to wipe them forcibly from her face.

"How else are you two going to get together if he doesn't know you like him?"

"We're not" I snapped. "Because I don't like him and he certainly doesn't like me."

"But you told me you did like him" Mary spoke over me.

I let out a sigh. This was pointless. We were going round in circles.

I, well Dorcas actually, had told Mary I liked Black. And now Mary had gone and told him. There was absolutely nothing arguing with the half brained girl was going do to help matters.

Besides, she was obviously still sore her little crush Anthony preferred a girl he'd never even met over her.

Mine and Anthony's meeting actually hadn't gone that badly after the whole 'running for my life' thing.

He actually seemed like a really nice, genuine person. I could now totally see what Mary saw in him. Despite his looks being on the average side, he was a big and phenomenally friendly giant.

And really, who wouldn't want someone like that looking out for them, caring about them?

Ant had walked me all the way back to the entrance of the Gryffindor common room after our meeting.

I couldn't get over how much I'd misjudged him. He wasn't annoying at all, he was probably more miffed off with being the object of Mary's slightly over the top obsession.

What's more he'd actually surprised me with his wit and intelligence. No offense to them, but on the whole there weren't all that many witty Hufflepuffs roaming the castle walls.

It was just a pity he wasn't my type.

"So who do you like now then?" Marlene asked me, interrupting my musings on Ant.

"No one" I blurted out a little too quickly. And even if I did, I knew well enough to keep it to myself from now on.

x

I woke with a start, my reflexes causing my body to jolt. It was still dark out and I could tell from the gentle rise and fall of their shadows my roommates were all still sleeping peacefully.

I twisted my body, unravelling the sheets that had wrapped themselves around my damp skin. It felt humid. I raised a hand to my brow and wiped away the moisture that had settled there, pushing the masses of hair back from my face.

All through the night the nightmares about that horrible, growling black dog had tormented me. My nerves had been left jangling.

The strange thing was, though, in almost all of them the dog had altered half way through it's pursuit of me.

It's body shuddering and shaking grotesquely as it ran, it's face contorting, shrinking. Until eventually it resembled something human, though just as rabid and snarling as the dog.

Something even stranger; the human always looked like Regulus Black.

It was probably just because Sirius had warned me so insistently away from his brother that had now carved the idea of him being the epitome of evil in my mind.

Bloody Black. Always messing around with me one way or the other.

Except this last dream had been something slightly different, even more terrifying in a way.

Instead of being my saviour, Anthony had turned out to be something even worse than the dog.

x

It had been a dull day of nothing more than dull lessons and even duller weather, and yet what with the many recent events my mind was a buzz of activity, trying to mull over many things at once:

Why had Black taken to ignoring me?  
Would Lily break down and finally give in to the idiot Potter?  
What on earth was that dog doing at Hogwarts?

And finally just a hazy image of Anthony and how sweet he had been the previous evening.

I had more than a few girl's ask me if I really did fancy Sirius as Mary had told them, and to each one of them I repeated the same answer.

"No, not at all" I addressed Laurel this time, a Ravenclaw sixth year who'd caught me during our Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

"I don't know why Mary would say that." I shook my head, allowing a dramatic pause, "Maybe _she_ likes him but is too embarrassed to admit it?" My voice was genuine and perhaps even a little bit kindly.

Laurel seemed to think on it a second before nodding. "Hmm" she mused before walking away.

I let an evil smirk spread it's way across my face, I should go into acting, really. Perhaps now Mary would think twice before spreading vicious rumours in the future.

Reaching down I grabbed a Doxy egg from the pile the Professor had left for us, ready to head back toward my partner, Lily.

Except when I turned back around I found my face engulfed by a mass of solid cotton. I had stepped face first into the white shirted chest of one of my classmates.

Sirius Black reached out instinctively as I stumbled back from the collision with his body.

I pulled away and steadied the egg in my arms, wondering just how long he had been loitering behind me. He let out a laugh at my guilty expression.

"You know, that really wasn't very nice Morland" he chided, gesturing to Laurel. He was clearly amused. "Spreading rumours about your friend? And here was me thinking you were supposed to be a good girl."

It was the first time he had addressed me in days.

I raised my eyebrow. "Mary's not my friend" I stated before breezing past. I wasn't about to get into a chat with Black today.

He bent to grab his egg from the pile and stepped easily to keep pace with me.

"In fact a little bird told me you've been getting up to all sorts recently. Cavorting with strange boys at night."

I froze. How could he possibly know of mine and Anthony's meeting? Unless Mary blabbed to him too I reminded myself.

Now that he had my full attention he lowered his face toward mine so that only I could hear. "You want to watch yourself, walking around the grounds on your own. I'm sure there are plenty of things out there that wouldn't mind a piece of_ you_."

He straightened up, his face roguish.

I stared at him hard. Did he know about the dog?

I tried to recover myself.

"There's nothing in the grounds that I wouldn't rather face than talk to you Black, and as for Anthony, he's no more strange than the rest of the boys around here."

Black let out his bark of a laugh. "Merlin Morland, where _has_ all this attitude come from lately? You're practically rivalling Evans. Maybe we should thank this _Anthony_ for putting some of that fire in your belly." His eyes practically danced with smug amusement.

The sound of Anthony's name on Sirius's lips made me cringe inwardly.

"I'm sure even you could do better than Javerhops" he shook his head with amused disdain.

"What's wrong with Anthony?" I demanded, Black strolling alongside me en route to my work space. He was worse than a bad smell.

He held up his hands. "I never said anything was wrong with him. Some people prefer the all brawn no brain type. Obviously you're one of them. I'm sure he could wean you into the male species well enough-"

"Oh, I don't need weaning into the male species thank you very much" I spat, lying through my teeth.

"-It's just James and I reckon you've never even been kissed" he continued as if I hadn't spoken.

My blood ran cold. Black knew.

I forced a careless laugh. "You two clearly have too much time on your hands. Why exactly _do_ you care so much about my love life anyway?"

"So you're saying you've had experience with boys before, then" Black responded dryly, ignoring the question.

"It's none of your business" I answered immediately. "It's not like_ you'll_ ever get to find out just how 'experienced' I am."

"Thank Merlin for that."

"Seconded."

"Good."

"Good."

Black shook his head and snorted.

"You know Morland, if you weren't so completely _intolerable_... you might just be alright."

I shot him a look. "_Alright_? You spoil me."

With that I took myself and my Doxy egg safely back to Lily's side, ignoring Black's loud laughter behind me. As I walked over Lily's face was apparently amused.

"I do not fancy Black." I repeated mechanically for what had to be the millionth time since last night, preempting her knowing smile. "He was trying to wind me up. _Trying_ being the operative word." Though actually he had managed it. Git.

She gave me a look, tucking a strand of dark red silk behind her ear.

"Have you ever thought that the reason he teases you so much is because he fancies you?" she asked me.

"No" I replied simply, setting the egg onto the upturned wooden box we were using as a make shift table.

"For a start the way he treats me goes way past 'teasing'. And have you ever, in all of his history, known him to pick on any other girl he's fancied?"

Lily looked temporarily foiled, before her expression spread into a small smile.

"So" she started mischievously, now staring fixedly over my head, "if I were to tell you he's staring at you _right now_, you wouldn't care in the slightest?"

My head darted around reflexively.

Black caught me looking and smirked, shooting me a wink.

My head snapped back forward, a furious blush on my cheeks. "I hate you Lily, did I ever tell you that?"

She let out her infectious tinkling laugh. "Oh, it could be worse Cheryl. He could be Potter!"

* * *

****Added note. Ok, so I just finished the next few chapters and it got me wondering... Check out the poll on my profile and let me know what you prefer ********:)****

******BlackElectric x**


	14. Curiosity Killed the Cat

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* * *

**Chapter 14**

**Curiosity Killed the Cat**

When Potter came strutting over to our workplace not a minute later I nearly cracked into laughter.

Lily's face was an absolute picture.

"It could be worse Lily" I mimicked half-jokingly. "He could be Black."

"Oh, ha ha."

"Morland" he greeted curtly, catching me offguard. Since when were we openly registering each other's existence?

"Evans." Her name seemed to roll from his tongue like dripping honey. He had it bad, he had it very bad indeed.

"Do you mind?" he asked, and then without waiting for a response promptly stole an unsuspecting Ravenclaw's stool.

When the poor sod went to sit back he fell slap bang on his backside. The boy took one look at who had taken it and decided it wasn't worth the effort.

Lily let out a sigh of impatience.

"I suppose it's too bad if we did?" she asked Potter shortly.

He shook his head sadly.

"Evans, Evans, Evans. I wish you'd stop trying to hide your love for me. It's getting embarrassing."

Lily's bright green eyes flashed angrily.

Potter carried on, ignoring her silent fuming. "Besides, Morland here doesn't mind if I join you. Do you Morland?"

I held up my hands and looked away, wanting nothing more than to flee the scene.

He leaned into Lily, bringing his lightly tanned face closer to hers. It was an action that would have had many of the girls at Hogwarts go weak at the knees. It seemed Lily was impervious.

"So, Evans. Mind if I sit with you at dinner this evening?"

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Potter, please, let me explain something to you." She leaned in toward him. "There will _never_ be a time that I will willingly sit next to you. If it were the last seat on a four hour bus ride, I would still _not_ sit next you. Get the picture?"

Potter just chuckled. "Oh Evans. You're so cute when you exaggerate."

x

Potter had continued his assault on Lily's last ounce of patience all day.

Eventually the last of her resolve had been nagged away and she agreed he could sit next to her at dinner. It seemed like the easier option than put up with him tailing her all the time.

Just this once though, and on condition he left her alone for the remaining hours of the day. Oh, and as long as he didn't bring his friends -minus Remus of course-,or speak, or put breadsticks in his mouth and grunt like a walrus like last time.

I passed through the empty Entrance Hall on my way down to join everyone else at evening meal.

I was running late and my friends were supposed to be meeting me in there, each having a different last lesson to myself.

My heart must've skipped at least a dozen beats when I spotted an all too familiar face waiting just outside the floor to ceiling double doors.

Black hair, grey eyes, a slight scowl.

There stood Regulus Black. The other brother. Looking as bored and disdainful as ever as he lounged against the wall.

My nightmares flooded back at once._ He_ was the dog, but I pushed them from my mind. It was ridiculous.

Animagi's had to be registered, then there was the fact it was an extremely lengthy, not to mention complicated process to undertake. Far too advanced for any high school pupil.

No, it was impossible. The dog was just a dog, and Regulus was just Black's younger Slytherin brother.

He nodded curtly to me once as I approached.

When I reached within a foot of him he pushed himself off from the stone wall and started to walk in the opposite direction.

"Hi" I muttered pointlessly after him.

Without warning he turned back around and looked right at me, though he continued to back away.

"You like my brother" he stated. It wasn't a question.

His expression was mocking, one fine black eyebrow raised.

"I thought you knew better than to listen to rumours" I replied easily.

He snorted and shrugged.

"Sometimes."

With that he turned his back to me once more and was gone.

I stared after him. He looked so like his brother it was unnerving.

A mere second after Regulus slipped out of the door, the faintest of tremors echoed under my feet and the next thing I knew three extremely burly looking Slytherin fifth years were pounding their way in my direction.

For the tiniest of moments I thought I was going to be hexed into the ground.

Until they looked over my head as if I was nothing more than a pointless statue set in the middle of the walkway. They made their way past toward the Great Hall doors. I vaguely heard them muttering Regulus's name. They looked incredibly put out.

It seemed they had been stood up.

Maybe Regulus didn't want to conduct his little meeting with someone who knew his brother in the vicinity.

Not really wanting to go past them to finally get my food, I followed in the younger Black's footsteps and walked toward the Entrance Hall doors that led out into the cool evening air. I would wait until the three Sumos had finally given up and left.

I took a deep breath in, almost choking on it when I noticed the hulking figure lurking by the low stone wall in the grounds.

There, sat just a few feet away, was the great dog.

It caught my gaze, it's head and ears pricking up. Did it recognise me from the previous night?

I stared into the unnerving liquid silver of the large dog's eyes, once again being reminded of Regulus.

Though there was something different about it this time, it seemed calm, in control, perhaps even a little morose. Or was that boredom?

From what I could tell there was no deer with it this time.

I stole a glance behind me, unsure what to do. The Slytherins were still there blocking the entrance to the Great Hall. They were talking so conspiratorially amongst themselves that I knew they would hex the first person to interrupt, even with an 'excuse me'.

I turned back to the big black dog. It's position had not changed.

So which is it to be? I asked myself.

The three ox-like Slytherins, or the black beast.

x

Without so much as a bark the beast rose to it's feet and started to walk away, away from the warm light of the school and further into the twilight.

Now please don't ask what possessed me, but the next thing I knew I was following it.

I was following the horrid, vicious creature that had growled and chased me down only the night before.

Why?

I don't know if it was Gryffindor bravery or just plain curiosity.

Besides, it was practically beckoning me to follow it. It could have easily sprinted away and left me faltering in it's wake.

I watched the creature's immense shoulder blades rise up and down, up and down as I followed. Hypnotic and gliding with a grace more akin to a jungle cat than a mere canine.

It was only when we'd travelled a sufficient distance from the friendly aura of the school walls that I realised what I had done.

I paused to frantically check my pockets, confirming the worst. I had none. Thus there was no place for me to have stored my trusty wand.

I was powerless.

The beast seemed to sense my halting steps, or rising panic, and for the first time turned back to look at me.

I closed my eyes briefly and sighed. This was it, I was done for.

"So" I addressed it, my voice thankfully more calm than I felt. "Did I really catch you off guard last night, or are you going to finish me off?"

The beast only cocked it's head pinning me with an oddly aware gaze.

It's doe eyed expression seemed overtly innocent in comparison to the other night. Like it was trying it's best to come across as placid as possible.

"You're far too clever to be an ordinary dog" I murmured to myself.

It rumbled an affirmative bark.

I took a tentative, curious step toward it.

The dog stared right back at me, it's gaze unfaltering.

It had either glazed over or was watching me very carefully indeed.

Reaching out a tentative hand I stroked the length of it's neck with my fingertips. It seemed to jolt to life and turned to snap at my fingers.

I pulled back quickly and the next thing I knew it was on it's feet and sprinting away.

By the time I looked it had already disappeared into the night leaving me to stare after it, utterly perplexed.

x

When I made my way back to the castle the Slytherins were thankfully gone and Lily was sat over with Potter just as she'd promised.

I passed Black, Pettigrew and Remus sat a table away talking in muted whispers about something. Remus didn't seem too pleased. His expression reminded me of a parent long tired of berating his children.

"You take things too seriously Moony" Black said with a shrug, his voice just loud enough for me to hear. "It was only a bit of fun. Besides, I would have thought you'd have made an exception this time." He grinned and flicked his eyebrows suggestively.

Remus narrowed his eyes at his friend. "You know full well I don't like her in that way Sirius, and this isn't a laughing matter. You're compromising everything."

Black rolled his eyes.

As soon as they noticed me all three boys glanced furtively in my direction, immediately halting their conversation. Peter seemed ready to wet himself from nerves.

Remus gave me a perfunctory smile which I returned half-heartedly.

It made me wonder what was up with them. Remus was usually always so calm.

Marlene attracted my attention with manic waving and beckoned me over to a seat Dorcas had saved next to them.

As I sat down and helped myself to the roast dinner I made the decision not to tell the girls about my meetings with the dog, not right then at least.

"Anyone know what's up with Remus?" I asked casually, spooning out some roast carrots.

Marlene and Dorcas both shook their heads. "Maybe he's finally realised what a liability Black is" Marlene shrugged.

"He's always getting him into some kind of trouble" Dorcas agreed.

x

Ok, so remember how I said that Anthony wasn't all that bad?

I lied.

It all happened during our trip to Hogsmeade.

Lily, Sally, Marlene and I had taken a booth in the Three Broomsticks and were talking about pointless things like the strange little living balls of fluff Zonko's had started selling.

Sally pulled a purple one out of her bag. The ball of fluff sighed dreamily to itself.

"Can I hold it?" I asked her.

She handed it over to me.

"Hello" I cooed to it in my best baby voice. "Ooh, you're so cute aren't you. Yes you are. You little squishy thing you."

Marlene burst out laughing. "Merlin Cheryl, do you want me to get you and the pygmy puff a room?"

I laughed and handed the pygmy carefully back to Sally who pocketed it. "Gross."

"So, anyway-" Marlene carried on, still grinning. "I told William he could just get lost, there was no way I was-"

Just then Potter, Black, Remus and Pettigrew all trooped through the pub door sending the wind chime jangling loudly.

I groaned inwardly, as long as Lily was with us there was no way we could avoid a meeting with them.

Sure enough James grinned over at us.

"Girls" he greeted as he stood before our table, though really it was clearly only meant for Lily.

Peter stood just behind his friend, paling beside James's height, charm and looks. He was just such _nothingness_ in comparison with his friends_. _I sometimes wondered if it ever bothered him. Then again he was far too quiet for any other role.

Remus gave us a small smile. His mood had obviously improved since the other night.

"So how's your day going?" he asked, glancing around our table. His gaze landed briefly on me but did not linger there.

Sally beamed warmly up at him. "Brilliant thanks, have you seen the new broomstick on the market? Solid wood, none of the hollow rubbish the school provides. Mahogany finish-" Sally was on the school Quidditch team.

"It's a beauty alright" Remus agreed with a smile.

"Yeah, beautiful price too" James interjected. He pulled out a brightly coloured catalogue from his inside pocket. Snitches and Bludgers danced across the cover.

He pointed at the picture of what looked to me like just another broom.

Remus let out a low whistle. "'_Two hundred Galleons_'. Better start saving up I think Sal" he chuckled.

"Christmas present anyone?" James agreed.

Sally rolled her eyes. "It's alright for some. Not all of us have stinkingly rich parents James."

Sirius lowered himself down on the end seat next to me making my stomach perform an uncomfortable backflip.

James shrugged, eyeing up his friend. "I was just born lucky I guess."

"Too right" Sirius agreed enthusiastically, raising his pewter goblet and taking a swig.

He turned to face me and frowned. "What are they talking about again?"

I felt my mouth twitch and he grinned.

"Watch out. Don't want your face to crack" he joked.

He lounged back on the worn purple velvet, parting his knees wide. The side of his body pressed against my own, the warmth radiating into me.

"Merlin all this Quidditch malarky bores the snot out of me" he sighed half to himself. "I'll watch the odd match gladly, but I can't ruin my pants with excitement over the new pair of dragon hide Keeper gloves or what have you like James does.

So, how's it going Morland? Up to any new tricks?" his disinterest was evident.

"The usual" I answered curtly.

He nodded. "More secret meetings then?"

"What?" How did he know about the dog?

He looked as though he was fighting back a laugh. "Surely you haven't forgotten your boyfriend already?"

Oh. He was talking about Anthony.

"He's not my boyfriend."

Black snorted. "Sure he isn't."

"Hey" he nudged my arm with his hand, "Isn't that him now, over there. Hey Javerbops, over here!"

"Javerhops" I corrected without thinking, before noticing that it actually was Anthony. Sat with a friend over at the bar.

Anthony caught my gaze and grinned embarrassedly, muttering something to his friend.

Next thing we knew his friend was coming over, a silly grin plastered across his face.

"Ant told me to give you this" he muttered before walking away.

He'd tossed a note onto the table.

I snatched at it before Black could, scrunching it tightly in my hand.

Anthony's face had turned a bright pink and he promptly scurried out of the pub doors. I was left wondering whether it was worth my life to open out the note in front of Sirius.

I glanced around, the rest of the group was still too busy talking amongst themselves to have noticed.

"Go on then" Sirius urged, his attention now peaked. "I could do with a laugh."

I turned my body toward Sirius with the note in front of me so that he couldn't read it and begrudgingly opened out the neatly folded paper.

What could Anthony possibly have to tell me that he couldn't say in person?

_Cheryl_

_I know you probably don't like me the way I like you and I know you'll probably never see me as anything more than a freind._

_But these past few days I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. _

_When you looked at me the other night your pupils were so expressive. _

_____I just feel like we could be so much more._

_Love, Ant x_

Three words were running through my gobsmacked mind.

What. The. Heck.

"Well?" Sirius asked impatiently.

"Your pupils are _expressive_" Marlene let out a laugh from behind me. "What the hell is that about?"

I didn't realise she had been reading it over my shoulder.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "It doesn't actually say that?" he cried incredulously.

He snatched the note from me at once. Everyone's attention was firmly on the two of us now.

He barked a laugh.

"Oh Merlin, that's hilarious. He does realise the pupil is the little black dot right?"

He pretended to look deep into my eyes and put a hand to is heart. "Oh Morland, your dots are so expressive"

At this everyone around the table laughed.

"And he misspelt friend..."

Lily put a hand on my back for support. Only she would realise how embarrassed this was making me.

"Who wrote it?" James demanded.

"Javerhops."

"The rugby player?"

Sirius nodded.

"Wow, weird sentiments for a big guy."

"He's clearly touched in the head" Sirius snickered. Peter squeaked a laugh from James's side.

Remus just seemed disturbed by it all.

Lily took the note from Sirius and skimmed through it.

"I didn't know he was so obsessed with you" she commented, shaking her head.

Marlene looked at me and grinned. "Just don't let Mary know about this" she warned, "you'll have a cat fight on your hands."

"She can have him" I replied quickly.

The wind chime by the door let out a ringing noise and who should be re-entering the pub but Anthony.

I groaned. Why me? Why do I always get the geeks or the psychos?

Everyone around the table stared unabashedly at him, and I almost felt a touch of sympathy. Until I reminded myself that he was the reason I was now the butt of the joke.

I glared over at him. Stupid Javerhops, just what the bloody hell was he thinking going psycho on me like that. He'd been fine the other night.

It was as if he had been brewing on it since our meeting.

He glanced over at me probably to see if I had read his little note.

Without missing a beat Black put a firm arm around my shoulder and leaned in against me as far as he could.

Making sure Anthony was watching he pulled me toward him until we were practically on top of one another.

Then, with his free hand, he cupped my face and put his lips against mine.

All I could think of was please, don't let this be my first kiss.

* * *

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** BlackElectric x**


	15. Always Had a Thing For Twins

**Chapter 15**

**Always Had A Thing for Twins**

Everything had seemed to happen in slow motion.

Black's left arm snaking around my shoulders. His right hand resting against my jaw, practically scorching my cool skin.

A devilish smile tugged his lips upward as they descended on me, stopping mere inches away.

He glanced up and caught my eye ever so briefly. I wasn't sure if I was just seeing things, but it almost looked as though one of them twitched. Only for a second, the movement infinitesimal.

And then his body closed the gap between us, and he kissed me.

That's how it must have looked to everyone else anyway.

His eyes closed as if he were truly in the moment, his head moving gently with every pretend stroke of our lips. The hand resting on my face only serving to hide our parted mouths from view.

I had to admit, he was a pretty convincing fake kisser.

x

I could hear the wolf whistles from James and Peter. I wasn't sure if they believed their friend had actually just snogged my face off.

I just sat there dumb in Black's embrace, stunned into silence. Unable to do anything but wonder why on earth I wasn't stopping him.

I was too shocked to react I think, this had to be the closest a boy had ever come to me; only to piss off some poor undeserving Hufflepuff no less.

I was such a freak, why oh why had I let it get so far that_ Sirius Black_ was the only boy I allowed within a mile of me.

Nothing he did really meant anything, so it all felt safer in a way.

If Anthony had leaned in to kiss me like that it would have been a different matter.

Once the initial blind attraction wore off I knew every other boy would see I was still the same uncertain little girl inside. The 'Beaver' as Black and his friends had so kindly labelled me.

Idiot.

Black finally pulled away and I looked automatically in Anthony's direction.

His expression was a canvas of disbelief and simmering anger. I almost thought he was going to pick Sirius right off his seat and beat that perfect head of his across the beer taps.

I glanced back at Black, he didn't seem a bit bothered by it all. In fact he looked like he had just won a particularly testing bout of wizarding chess.

His smugness suddenly turned to harsh laughter as I heard the door chime tinkle. Anthony had stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

My stomach felt as though it had been lined with lead.

"Woah," was all Marlene said. "Bit harsh you two."

James looked from the door to Sirius. "You got balls Padfoot, I'll give you that."

Sirius snorted and shrugged. "He deserved it. Making a prat out of himself."

"Of course," Lily glared at him, "because_ you'd_ never let yourself do anything like that would you?" She jabbed an angry finger at him. "No, Sirius Black is far too cool and collected to actually show how he really feels. You're scornful because you don't know what it is to _really_ love somebody."

James furrowed his brow at her but said nothing. A silence fell around our table.

Sirius laughed affectedly glancing at his friend for back up. James looked away awkwardly.

"That's not love," Sirius exclaimed derisively. "It's a ridiculous obsession coming from an even more ridiculous fool. He needed to be taught a lesson."

"You wouldn't know love if it took off it's knickers and slapped you in the face with them," Lily huffed.

Marlene and Sally let out a burst of a laughter. I thought I saw even Peter's mouth twitch.

"Black is right," I was shocked to hear my own voice say those words. "I don't know what that note was about, but it wasn't love."

Sirius raised an eyebrow at me, as surprised as I was to hear me agreeing with him.

It felt as though everyone at the table was staring in my direction. I fought back the blush.

"You can be such an idiot sometimes," I told him seriously, my voice low.

"I'm not the one who wrote it," he reminded.

I turned away and looked to Lily. "Want another drink?" I asked as casually as I could.

Lily smiled at me and nodded. "Sure, come on."

Black stood up to let me out. I avoided his stare as I brushed past him.

"Aw, she's giving you the silent treatment now Padfoot." I heard Potter laugh in the background.

But what else exactly could I say to him?

I wasn't happy about what he'd done, but at least he didn't actually kiss me, God forbid. And perhaps it was _best_ for Anthony to think me unavailable.

How else would I tell him I didn't find his pupils expressive?

We finished our drinks with everyone thankfully going back to their normal topics of conversation. Lily having trouble fighting off James's advances and Peter giggling like a girl about it.

I wasn't at all sure if Remus particularly liked me. He seemed to try his best not to look at or talk to me if he could help it. But it may have been to avoid Black's taunts about fancying me anymore. It must have been highly irritating for him.

x

We all headed out of the warm building together to brave the chilling wind outside.

The boys walked just ahead of us, their strides long and certain. Only Peter seemed to have trouble keeping up, trotting a little every now and then when he lagged behind. The short puffs of breath escaping from his mouth an indication of how more effort it cost him to keep up with them.

"Can't believe he kissed you," Sally repeated for the second time, glancing at me.

"I know!" Marlene exclaimed. "The nerve of him!"

"He didn't." I corrected pointlessly.

Marlene dismissed me easily. "Well he may as well have. It certainly looked to the whole pub like he had... Wonder what it would be like to actually kiss him," she mused aloud.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sally teased, earning her a hard slap on the arm.

"As if you wouldn't!" Marlene exclaimed.

Sally shook her head. "Nah. I'm more of a Remus girl myself," she said with a sly grin.

"Hahaha!" Marlene's laughter was so loud it made all four boys turn around and shoot us funny looks.

Marlene quieted her laughter to muffled snorts. Lily nudged her. "Shush. You'll make them come over."

"Speak of the devil," Sally commented, still grinning.

I looked up and saw Sirius had held back a little from his friends. He let us catch up and walked at our side.

Taking this as a hint Sally and Marlene walked on ahead whispering between themselves. Lily glared at him and continued to walk resolutely by my side, I loved Lily more right then than ever before.

"Hey Lily, could you come here for a second please? We need your advice on something," Remus called back far too innocently.

The red head seemed torn. If it had been Potter calling she would have stayed no question, but Remus?

I shook my head vigorously, my eyes wide. "Don't." I mouthed silently, my head turned away from Black. Don't leave me alone with him, I begged inwardly, but she only sent me an apologetic look and jogged to catch up with the rest of them.

Bloody conniving Lupin. First and foremost, I realised, he was always Black's friend.

I kept my eyes fixed firmly to my right, pretending to look in the shop windows.

"Think you'll be able to resist me now we've shared our first fake kiss?" Black's voice was confident and teasing, sounding a lot closer than I'd been expecting.

I forced myself to look up at him. He walked by my side, tall and lithely muscular.

"Is that how things usually go for you?" I asked with a dry smile.

Sirius leaned down to me conspiratorially, "Between just us girls? You're my first fake kiss."

I allowed him a small smile. "Ah, I should be celebrating..."

"-And I'd be willing to bet my life that I'm yours," he continued, looking at me as if waiting for a reaction. "Admit it, I stole your fake kiss virginity, didn't I?"

The 'V' word made my heart strum out a few needless extra beats.

Sirius seemed to pick up on this and the smile soon curled into a smirk.

"Perhaps I'll steal a few of your other firsts while I'm at it," he threatened roguishly, turning to walk backwards as he spoke. "Would you be really very angry with me if I did, Morland?" His grey eyes flashed mischievously, his mouth quirking in a one sided smile.

"You know what they say," he continued slyly, "it's always the quiet ones. Bet you're a minx in the bedro-"

"You know, I really thought you were going to get your arse kicked back in the Three Broomsticks," I interrupted quickly, saying the first thing I could think of to get a rise out of him and change the subject. "I mean, have you seen the size of Anthony? He must have double your strength. At least." My words were hurried.

I couldn't help but feel a bit smug at his abrupt change in expression.

"I just don't get why you did it." I looked up at him waiting for an answer and we came to a slow standstill.

"Call me impulsive" he shrugged non-commitedly. "Besides, what's life without a few risks eh?"

He glanced down at me and bared his straight teeth in a quick smile before resetting the pace on our walk. "Don't worry Morland. Worst comes to worst, I'll protect you."

My eyes flickered. "I can look after myself, thanks."

Sirius barked a laugh and patted my shoulder roughly. "Course you can," he said.

I watched as he jogged ahead, sneaking up on Potter and ruffling his precious hair from behind.

Everyone laughed as James protested, even Lily allowing herself a brief giggle. "Hey!" James moaned, checking in a passing shop window to see if his windswept look had been sabotaged.

This just made Sirius laugh all the louder.

x

It had been two days and Anthony was still avoiding me like the plague since the Broomsticks incident. Part of me was thankful while the other part was skipping not so merrily down a nasty guilt trip.

Black had gone back to pretending I didn't exist too, something I was very grateful for.

I wasn't sure why but I felt even more awkward around him since that day, like there was a tension between us.

It was almost as though we really had kissed.

I left Lily and Sally at the common room after our last lesson and made my way to the library. I had been falling behind on my studies of late and Sprout's words were ringing in my mind.

'_Don't be the only one who cannot achieve a career after Hogwart's.'_

I laid my quill and parchment out on a free table in the study area feeling incredibly organised and pleased with myself. We had been assigned a book to read for Defense so the plan was to have a go at getting through that, underlining the parts that felt important enough to crop up in our NEWTS.

_'Your Wand: Shield, Sword & Serenity.' _I read the title. It sounded pretentious enough to be important.

I had just gotten settled when a something of a furore erupted on the other side of the library.

Usually anything above an intake of breath had the librarian Madam Pince on you like a sack of particularly weighty bricks.

I craned my neck, imitating the other students at the tables next to me. It seemed no one was bothering to even pretend to study anymore.

"Blaaaack!" Pince's screech was eardrum piercing.

A tall boy with dark hair walked calmly over to the irate librarian.

"Yes?" Sirius asked as though she had enquired of the time.

Pince seemed fit to spontaneously combust.

"Did I just see you violating a book?" she shrieked.

Black frowned a little. "Violating seems like such a _dirty_ word-"

At this steam seemed to gush from the librarian's ears.

"HOW DARE YOU!" The words tore from her mouth, the decibel frightening. "I OUGHT TO HAVE YOU EXPELLED! NO, I OUGHT TO HAVE YOU ARRESTED! SCRIBBLING ON SCHOOL PROPERTY! ASSAULT! ASSAULT I SAY!"

The tirade continued, Black seeming as unfazed as ever.

"YOU AND YOUR BROTHER ARE AS BAD AS ONE ANOTHER!"

"I can assure you that's our only similarity," he interjected calmly.

"DON'T YOU OWN LITERATURE IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD?" Pince continued as if uninterrupted. "ONE HUNDRED POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR AND DETENTION FOR ONE MONTH!"

His gaze trailed behind her, one dark eyebrow quirked upwards. "Do you know, I must confess I've always had a thing for twins."

"TWINS?" Pince bellowed, before realising what he had actually said. "Twins?" she frowned, looking more confused than angry now. "What on earth are you talking ab-?"

She followed Black's eye line to just behind where she was stood, a stunned silence following.

Everyone in the library gasped as one as a stringy looking figure emerged from the shadows. The strict silence rule, it seemed, had been temporarily forgotten.

x

Pince did an exaggerated double take, her mouth open wide enough to catch flies.

There, stepping out from one of the aisles behind the librarian was a figure that looked exactly like her in every way. Right down to the protruding vein at her temple.

Pince raised her right arm tentatively, the mirror image copying her every move. She lowered it to her side in a flash with the same results.

"What kind of trick is this?" she stuttered, for once apparently lost for words.

"What kind of trick is this?" the copy repeated in the exact same shrill tone.

She turned to glower at Black. "This has something to do with you, doesn't it?" she demanded.

Black looked back at her innocently.

"Detention!" she trilled.

"No detention!" the other Pince contradicted.

"_How dare you?_" they chorused together.

I almost laughed aloud.

The original Pince stamped her sensible heeled foot. "I said detention!" she called angrily.

The copy responded with equal force, stamping yet another heeled shoe on the parquet floor. "I said no detention!" she insisted.

Black stepped forward and raised a finger, "Erm, if I may-"

Both Pince's turned to glare at him.

"You seem to be having some 'issues' shall we say," he said using air quotes. "Tell you what, why don't I come back later? Maybe then you'll have worked out between yourselves who the real librarian is."

"_I am!_" They both shrieked as Black backed out of the room. As soon as their attention was distracted he jogged to the doorway.

Without really thinking I rose from my seat and packed my things into my bag as fast as I could.

I opened the library door a crack only to find Black resting against the other side of it, a massive grin on his face.

He stepped back to let me out.

I gestured to the two librarians fighting it out on the other side. "How-?" was all I managed.

Black laughed and shook his head. "Don't ask."

The shards of bright light reflecting through the glass of the door told us hexes were being thrown around now.

"Bloody hell she's angry," Black chuckled softly, clearly enjoying it.

I pressed my cheek against the library door and listened to the scene progressing inside. A few of the students had started cheering the fight on.

Black walked over to me and placed his own ear against the glass, his face now just inches from my own. I fought the initial instinct to recoil backwards.

Pince's shrill tones carried through the doors. "Wow she's loud," I murmured softly.

Black focused his attention on me and exhaled a laugh. His breath felt warm against my face.

I could see him clearly now. His eyes were alight with good humour.

A slow grin spread across his face and he shot me a funny look. I must've been staring. Shit.

"What?" he laughed.

My eyes darted away, looking at anything but him. "Nothing."

"Tell me," he insisted. "Or I'll just think you fancy me."

I shook my head. "So big headed. I was just thinking how much you look like your brother," I lied.

His face fell a little.

"It's been said before," he replied, any traces of humour now gone from his voice.

Suddenly his eyes widened, his body giving a jolt. Without a word of warning he grabbed me by the hand and bolted it away from the doors.

Not a second later one of the Pince's came bursting through the door looking absolutely furious.

"_Students!" _she muttered mutinously, not seeming to register we were there._ "Messing around with Polyjuice. Wait til Dumbledore hears about this. Expulsion is what they deserve-_"

She stormed away still cursing to herself.

"Polyjuice?" I repeated, glancing at Black.

The library doors burst open a second time. Except this time the librarian that exited looked a lot less put together than the first. A nasty singe mark covered the front of her vomit green cardigan and mad wisps of hair had come loose from her bun. She carried her heels in her hand as she ran.

"I don't know how they walk in these things!" she cried, pelting towards us. Her voice seemed a lot deeper than it had been back in the library. Actually it kind of sounded like-

"James!" Sirius hissed at the librarian, "Hey James, over here. We have to get out of here, she's going to Dumbledore."

The scruffy haired librarian grimaced. "Crap. Leg it!"

In an instant both boys were on the move. "You coming or what?" Black called back to me.

x

We bolted up the corridor to our common room.

"Moulting Momeraths," James shouted at the Fat Lady as we turned the corridor.

She pretended to wake up and yawned loudly. "What's that you say?"

"He said the password you old bag, now open up before I get a barrel of paint stripper!"

"How rude." The Fat Lady replied pompously, but opened up nonetheless.

James had fully changed back into himself now.

His hairy legs stuffed into the see through tights looked obscene at best.

The sight of James Potter in lipstick and a chequered skirt legging it across the common room attracted a round of cheers and applause from the students dotted around. James took a bow to his ready audience.

He turned back to us and grinned lopsidedly. "Gonna go get changed I think, don't want Pete trying to hit on me again."

With that he shot up the boy's staircase. Black beckoned me over to a quieter part of the common room away from the gawps of the expecting Gryffindors.

"What exactly did you do to the book anyway?" I asked him curiously, noticing it still gripped in his hand.

He looked down at it as though he hadn't realised it was still there and handed me the ancient looking Potions book.

Sure enough there on the first blank page was an extremely crude drawing.

A stick figure labelled 'Snivellus' moved across the page holding a conical flask at hip level. The movement of the image only serving to make it even more lewd.

Underneath there was a scrawled annotation:

_'Only Snivelly loves Potions this much.'_

I frowned and handed it back to him. "I wonder what goes through your head sometimes."

His response was a bark of a laugh. "Trust me, you don't want to know." He tossed the book on a nearby table, the image still playing out on the open page.

"Reckon she'll find out it was Potter?" I asked him.

Sirius batted a careless hand. "Nah. Even if she does it was worth it. The look on her face when James walked over was hilarious."

"You lot are so bad."

Sirius looked like I'd paid him a compliment.

"So bad and yet so good." He flicked his eyebrows suggestively.

"Not that good."

"Are you sure?" he asked me, stepping forward until he towered over me. "Bet you'd enjoy it."

"Why do you do that?" I demanded, aware that we were alone and I could tell him exactly how I felt.

He seemed taken aback. "Do what?"

"Flirt with me like that when we both know you don't like me?"

He shrugged. "I just find it fun I suppose. Why, does it make you uncomfortable?"

"You'd love that wouldn't you."

He grinned at me. "Maybe. Maybe we should just shag and get it over with."

I let out a groan of frustration.

"That's the spirit," he grinned dirtily.

"Stop it."

He sat down in a chair next to him and reached for my hand. "Am I pissing you off?" he asked genuinely.

"Yes."

He gave me a small smile that for some reason made my breath rag in my throat.

"You know I only do it 'cos I like you." He shot me one of those playful winks of his.

I snatched my hand away.

"Hey" he said quietly.

"Will you be serious for once in your life?" I asked tiredly.

"I can't be anyone else," he half joked.

"Ha ha."

He grasped my hand again and pulled gently until I was stood between the gap of his knees.

"Who's to say I'm not really flirting with you anyway?" he challenged with a smirk.

I ignored him. He was being an arse.

He laughed a little.

"Did you know I used to like you in second year?" he asked suddenly.

He looked at the disbelief in my expression. "Truthfully." He confirmed with a chuckle.

"Before you became 'the Beaver'..."

"Before you started calling me Beaver you mean," I corrected.

I pulled my hand away yet again and he closed his knees around my legs instead.

"We were young," he said carelessly. "I was too busy being furious at you for humiliating me to realise how much we bothered you."

"Humiliating you?" I cried, trying to prise myself away. "I didn't bloody do anything!"

"I'd told my friends all about this pretty girl in my Charms class, then you come back looking like that."

"So not only are you calling me ugly, but you're saying it was my fault. You've got some nerve."

Sirius sighed. "Not how I meant it. I'm just telling you how I saw it at the time."

"So you're telling me you've seen the error of your ways? Give me a break."

"Give _me_ a break!" he exclaimed. "I'm here trying to tell you I-"

"Everything alright?" Peter asked cautiously, choosing that precise moment to waddle over. "You're getting kind of loud over here."

Black relaxed his knees and glared at his friend. "Brilliant timing Pete."

The small boy flushed. "Remus told me to- I mean I just came to- I just wanted to see if everything was ok."

Black batted a hand and stood up. "Don't worry about it. We're done here."

He glanced back at me. "See you around Cheryl."

My heart gave a throb at the sound of my name on his lips. It had to be one of, if not the only time he had ever used it in front of me.

I replayed the way it had sounded before checking myself.

Why should I care how it had sounded?

* * *

**I will update as soon as I can, I promise you.**

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**Thanks for reading**

**BlackElectric x**


	16. Scalding Hot

**'Scalding Hot'**

"Keep still," I ordered, trying to keep my voice from wobbling as I hovered over the half-naked body of Lupin. I pushed Remus's shampooed head further into the sink. "Aguamenti-

Is that too hot?" I asked, testing the temperature of the water jet against his bare shoulder.

"No, that's fine," he assured.

I looked down at the back of his head skeptically. It had felt absolutely scalding against my hand so I gave my wand a quick temperature tap against the side of the sink anyway, then took aim at the back of his lowered head.

"Argh!" he cried out. "It's _freezing_ now! _What are you doing?_"

"Sorry!" I exclaimed, my mouth twitching.

"Are you _laughing_?" he demanded.

"Course not... Better?" I asked.

"Yes, yes," Remus replied, a little testily.

Now, I don't really understand how it all came about myself, but somehow here I was, in the boys dormitory, giving Remus Lupin a _makeover_.

x

It had been all Marlene's idea. Wasn't it always?

In her own boredom she had decided that Lily, Dorcas and I were all hopelessly dull room-mates and needed to 'inject some fun' into our lives. Just because we were all taking the time to study for once, and seriously, I really needed it. Homework meant nothing to Marlene, it was as if she didn't even care how her life turned out past the precise moment she was living in.

Mary had not yet arrived back at the dormitory so had escaped any moaning from Marlene. Lucky cow.

I suspected she and Anthony were probably out somewhere have a good bitchfest at my expense. Or at least Mary was bitching and Anthony just going along with it. Not that slagging me off would make him fancy her any more. She needed to recognise a lost cause when she saw one.

I myself had managed to avoid him since the pub incident, his being in Hufflepuff was a godsend.

"I cannot for the life of me understand why we are going along with this, Cheryl," Lily complained from my side as I linked her arm and virtually pulled her across the common room to the 'forbidden' boys staircase in pursuit of Marlene and Dorcas.

"What exactly does Marlene hope to achieve?" she continued, trying to wrest her limb back from me. "There is no way Potter- _ungh_- will allow -_let go-_ her to put make-up on him if that's what she has in mind..."

Marlene had indeed grabbed her make-up bag for reasons unknown. Merlin only knew what she had in mind.

Lily finally stopped struggling.

"Oh, I dunno, he might have gotten a taste for it," I joked, remembering his Madam Pince crack.

Lily snorted. James Potter's cross dressing ways had now become common knowledge, and he had done nothing to dispel the rumours. Why should he, he clearly adored being the centre of everyone's attention.

Dumbledore had even cancelled Madame Pince's detention on the grounds that the Polyjuice Potion was obviously far too advanced for any high school student to achieve, and thus any dressing up James had undertaken in his recreation time was entirely his business alone.

_'People should not be punished for self expression,' _Dumbledore had insisted, obviously finding the whole debacle entertaining rather than the end of the world that Pince had painted.

James was such a jammy git. He was just lucky that the headmaster seemed to have a fantastic, or sick, depending on how you looked at it, sense of humour.

"And why are you suddenly so interested in visiting the boys anyway?" Lily looked at me suspiciously.

"I'm not!" I replied, a little too defensively.

She gave me a grim look. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with your conversation with Black in the common room last night, would it?"

"How do you know-?"

"Remus," Lily replied simply. "He thought it was a bit strange for you two to suddenly be so close. What were you talking about anyway?"

"Nothing," I tried to keep my voice nonchalant. "He was just being an arse, calling me Beaver...you know, the usual."

It was kind of true. He had used that horribly _irritating_ nickname, it's just for once it just wasn't directed _at_ me. At the risk of offending any water based mammals, I would have sucker-punched the word beaver from the face of the earth if I could.

x

We ignored the many curious stares from the fellow Gryffindors dotted around the room and followed Marlene as she strutted confidently up the boys staircase.

Just as the last time I had been in the boys dormitory I was able to follow my nose toward the foul stench of used clothes mixed with overpowering cologne. It was an irresistible concoction, really.

Marlene rapped loudly on the dormitory door and we all waited with baited breath for an answer.

I suddenly very much regretted agreeing to tag along, but as I didn't fancy a 'told you so' from Lily I stayed firmly rooted to the spot.

It seemed like an eternity before we heard any signs of life coming from the other side.

"Peter, get the door." It was Mike Bartinski's voice, I would recognise his arrogant lilt anywhere.

There was a scuffling noise before Mike spoke again. "Hurry up fat arse," he catcalled. "Look at him, he can't even lift his own butt from the bed." He laughed whole-heartedly at his own gag.

"Mike," a low voice chided from behind the door.

Finally the door was cracked open and Peter's pink face emerged. His eyes widened when he saw us.

"Well? Who is it?" Mike demanded impatiently, pushing Pettigrew out of the way and staring at us.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"Where's Potter?" Marlene asked, ignoring his tone.

"Not here." Mike replied simply. "Just me, Remus and Peter."

I felt a sinking sensation in my stomach, but put it down to sheer relief that Black wouldn't be there.

Marlene pushed the door forcefully and barged past the glowering boy.

"Hey!" he complained. "You can't just come in. Fuck this, I'm going to get McGonagall."

With that he stormed past us and jogged off down the stairs.

"Whiner," Marlene muttered, not seeming to care.

"If he's going to get McGonagall I'm out of here," Lily interjected. "I'm a Prefect, I'm supposed to be setting an example."

"He won't get her," Marlene assured. "He's all words is Mike. Besides, I bet Peter here is glad he's gone, ain't ya Petey boy?" She ruffled the smaller boy's hair patronisingly.

To be fair, he did seem a lot happier now that Mike was out of the way.

"He only acts like that when James and Sirius aren't here," Remus explained, gesturing to the doorway from which Bartinski disappeared. "Thinks he's the next in command."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Does democracy mean nothing in boy world, then?" she huffed.

"_An-yway,_" Marlene interjected, apparently not giving a hoot about the delicate social politics of the male dormitory, "We've come to entertain you," she beamed. She threw her hands up in the air, "Tada!"

Remus raised an eyebrow and slowly put a bookmark in the page he had been reading, as though dealing with a mad person.

"So, how about it?" Marlene pressed, dropping her arms back to her sides.

"Just what did you have in mind?" Remus asked carefully.

Five minutes later and the two boys were both extremely sorry Remus had ever asked.

-"I'm not wearing that!" Remus protested.

-"No!" Peter squeaked.

-"What in Merlin's right shoe _is_ that_?"_

_-_"You are not wetting my hair -I've already had a shower this morning..."

_-_"I'm not even sure that's legal..."

By the end of it they were, the two of them, mere broken shells of their former selves.

With just Peter and Remus present it was all too easy for Marlene to do what she did best and get her own way.

x

Peter sat in a chair in the middle of the room, a thick layering of lipstick on and around his mouth like a half-arsed clown. Dorcas hummed nonchalantly as she drew two large circles of blush on his plump cheeks.

"Put some conditioner on," Lily told me from our set up in the adjoining bathroom. She seemed considerably more relaxed what with Potter and Mike's prolonged absence.

Remus was bent over the sink in front of me waiting not so patiently for us to continue working our magic on his locks. He had already point blank refused to have any form of 'rubbish' anywhere near his face.

He had seemed fairly ok with having his hair washed and treated though, well not ok exactly, but more compliant than I'd expected... and it did make a nice change from studying; Remus had ridiculously soft hair.

I couldn't imagine Black being so quick to strip and let me pour water all over him, though I tried not to let my mind linger on the image of that for too long.

"Is this going to take much longer?" Remus asked, thankfully interrupting my thoughts. I think he was still a bit sour about the jet of freezing water down his neck.

"Beauty takes time," I told him. Lily snickered silently at my side.

Once everything had been washed out Lily and I escorted a very relieved Remus out from the en suite.

We had just made our way into the bedroom when the sound of stamping feet echoed up the staircase outside. Someone was coming.

Dorcas must've jumped a foot into the air and dropped her trusty blusher brush, with Remus hastily ripping the fluffy piled up towel from his head.

He had gone and done it. Mike had grassed us up to old McGonagall.

Each of us gaped in horror toward the doorway as it was flung violently back on its hinges.

Two tall figures stood staring back at us all, but it wasn't the two we had been expecting.

"What's going on here?" Potter demanded, clearly gobsmacked. Sirius Black stood at his side, hands in pockets, his expression hard to read.

Sirius's eyes moved from Lily and myself to the half naked, wet haired, Remus between us. He shot his friend a strange look.

Remus looked sheepish to say the least.

James tapped a large piece of parchment he had been holding with his wand and muttered something inaudible, before stuffing it into his pocket.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw... What are you all doing in here?" he stammered.

He looked at Lily like all his wishes had been granted at once.

"If you wanted a tour of my bedroom Lily Flower, you really should have just asked. I would have been more than willing - _Pete_?" James had finally spotted his heavily rouged friend.

As if on cue one of Peter's fake eyelashes drooped down his cheek like an escaping caterpillar. "What the heck? You haven't got to copy everything I do you know, mate."

Black followed Potter's gaze over to Pettigrew and barked out a laugh. "Merlin, Wormtail. Never let it be said that you can't pass as woman." He appraised the chubby boy, seeming highly amused by it all. "In fact, I rather think you make a more attractive girl than you do a boy."

Marlene laughed aloud. "That's what I said!" she cried, clearly relieved that it had been James and not a stony faced teacher at the door.

"So, who's next?" she held up the eyeshadow brush, her grin devilish.

"Only if I get Lily," James shot back with an easy smile.

"Done," Marlene agreed.

"Erm, I don't think so-" Lily clarified.

"Don't be such a sour-puss Lils," Marlene complained.

"Yeah Lils, don't be such a sour-puss," Sirius mimicked with a smirk.

"Come on Evans," James urged. "You've always wanted to have your wicked way with me. Well now's your chance. I'll agree to anything you wanna do."

Lily bit her lip, her face lighting up mischievously. "Anything?" she asked wickedly.

James looked a little taken aback by this but nodded quickly nonetheless.

Lily took Potter by the arm and dragged him over to the bed, flinging him onto it. "Wow Lils, not in front of everyone!" James laughed.

She laced her fingers together and pushed them outward, sounding out a satisfying crack. "Let's do this then, _Potter,_" she smiled sweetly.

Remus pulled his t-shirt back on and rubbed his hair dry with the towel around his shoulders, looking on as Marlene and Dorcas went back to making Peter look like the most horrific woman ever to grace the earth.

Sirius stood at the doorway watching Lily's, frankly frightening, enthusiasm to put make-up on Potter with a smirk.

I suddenly felt acutely aware that we were now the only two that seemed to be unoccupied.

He caught my eye unexpectedly and I looked quickly away, walking into the bathroom as a means of escape and dragging out the tidying up of the masses of bottles we had used to wash Remus's hair.

I glanced in the mirror and almost had a heart attack when I noticed Black stood there looking back at me, leaning against the frame of the door.

"Hi Cheryl," he said, his voice low, his expression unreadable.

My stomach backflipped at his use of my first name. It seemed it was going to be a recurring thing.

"Hi," I muttered, going back to my obsessive clearing of bottles.

He laughed quietly.

"What's so funny?" I tried to ask casually.

"Nothing," he replied.

I rolled my eyes._ Well stop bloody laughing then_, I thought to myself mutinously.

"Hey, I thought we were friends now?" he said, apparently amused by my tell-tale expression.

I finally stopped what I was doing and turned to face him, looking at every part of his face except for his eyes. "Since when?"

He put a hand to his heart. "You kill me. Besides, you could be a little nicer after I poured my heart out to you yesterday."

I scoffed.

He walked toward me and I felt his eyes boring into my face, burning it with the contact.

"Not very nice, Morland," he chided quietly.

"I thought we were on first name basis now," I corrected wryly.

He breathed a laugh. "My deepest apologises, _Cheryl_, but you know I've never once heard you say my name. It's all Black this and Black that with you."

"Not true," I replied, "I say it all the time... in my mind," I shrugged.

Sirius's eyebrow quirked slightly. "Think about me a lot then, do you?" he replied, smirking now.

Bollocks. Foiled by my own hand.

"No," I replied, perhaps a little too quickly.

He laughed quietly. "That's ok," he said, "I think about you too."

His expression remained teasing, too playful to really take seriously. But that didn't stop my stomach from producing a double somersault. Stupid stomach. When would this cat and mouse act we had going end, I wondered. And would I _ever_ get the chance to be the in-control cat?

I shook my head and looked away from him.

"Don't believe me?" he tested. "Only last night did I have a dream about you." I flickered my eyes in dismissal but he continued regardless. "Don't you want to know my dream?" he asked, the corner of his mouth tilting upward.

I shrugged. "Go for it."

"Well," he continued, "I dreamt that for some reason you came up into the boys dormitory.

"You gave some bland excuse, but I knew that really... deep down, maybe even deep enough for only your subsconcious to realise it; you were looking for me."

He let his words hang there for a minute in the silence. His eyes wouldn't let mine go, daring me to deny what he had said.

When I refused to respond he reached an arm behind him and grasped the doorknob.

"And then _somehow,_" he continued as if he'd never paused, "we ended up locked in..." His skillful fingers blindly flicked the lock on the door until it made what seemed like a deafening click.

I felt my breaths become harder to take.

I didn't dare look up at him when he returned his gaze to my own.

"Except in my dream, we weren't just standing here like this." His voice now sounded different as he spoke, strange. For some reason the change made my heart stutter. "It started off with you putting your hand around the back of my neck."

I felt the dryness of his cool palm as he took my lower arm and wrapped it around his neck. I was losing all sense of focus, was this actually happening?

"And you were running your fingers through my hair." He prompted my hand into movement. "That's it, like that." I could feel a tingling sensation start to grow inside my chest at the feel of his soft hair against my fingertips.

"What are you doing?" I murmured, finally forcing myself to speak. Though the voice that came out did not sound like my own. It sounded thick and staggered.

"I'm telling you my dream, remember?" he replied. "Maybe it's better I just show you what happened next?" His voice sent a ripple of something down my body.

Before I knew what was happening Sirius had snaked an arm around my body and down to my lower back, pulling me. His other hand rested on my face, his thumb grazing my lips.

I swallowed heavily and tried to pull myself out of whatever this was, but I couldn't. Sirius looked down at me, studying my face, his grey eyes glazed slightly. For once I didn't feel awkward under his scrutiny, but I still couldn't go through with whatever this was.

"Sirius, I," I started, noticing the smile tug at the corner of his mouth as I said his name. The sudden rattling of the door handle interrupted us and we both started at the sound. "Hey, Padfoot, you in there? Come out and see what Evans is doing to me, I need your support mate!"

"Aw, want him to hold your hand?" Marlene's muffled voice replied.

Sirius let me go like a hot frying pan. I couldn't even meet his eyes. This was so embarrassing.

I walked to the door and unlocked it hastily.

James shot us a funny look as we made our exit together, in fact all eyes seemed to be on us. I saw Potter give Sirius a questioning look as he walked past, but Sirius pretended not to notice.

Lily eyed me up. "I'm gonna go back to bed for a bit now I think," I told her, ignoring the questioning look she sent me.

Sirius sat next to Remus on the bed. "Wow Prongs, you look almost as good as Clubfoot Hannah," he joked surprisingly easily, seeing the long dark hair extensions Lily had given him.

I avoided all gazes as I exited the door, not daring to glance back to see if Sirius was watching.

* * *

A/N: So, um, I updated *sheepish smile*. So sorry about the wait between chapters, not even sure if anyone is still reading this but a reviewer somehow convinced me to finish this thing. Next chapter should be more about moving the plot along I think. Thanks for reading :) BlackElectric x


	17. Revenge Comes Box-Shaped

_This chapter is dedicated to __Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People_. A song that once you've heard it, will find impossible not to sing the chorus for hours afterwards. **  
**

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**Chapter 17**

**'Revenge comes Box-Shaped'**

Lily and I made our way back to the common room after what had turned out to be a day of disappointingly uneventful lessons.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Lily. It's just the combination of her Prefect status and sensibleness meant if things were already dull, she probably couldn't be counted on to liven them up.

I needed a heavy dose of Marlene, or Sally, or -

My disobedient mind went straight to Black and Potter, but I quickly brushed it away. After yesterday it was probably better if I kept as far away from them as possible. Especially Sirius.

I had to admit it though, lately time spent with him was nothing if not entertaining.

x

As we reached the familiar portrait hole Lily stayed behind to chat with the Fat Lady. Honestly, was she just friends with everyone now? I wouldn't know the first thing to say to a painting. _Er, hi, how's your oils today...?_

I left her to it, calling the password over their chatter and making the Fat Lady harrumph.

"No patience these days..." Bla, bla, bla and so forth. I'd stopped listening.

One person whose opinion I _was_ beginning to care about more and more, however -for reasons I did not dare look into- was Remus Lupin's.

He increasingly gave the impression that if I was around, he preferred not to be. Sure he was polite to a fault, but that was just Remus.

Plus, the more he ignored me the more begrudgingly desperate I seemed to be to gain his approval.

Except I wasn't aware I'd actually done or said anything to him to deserve his dislike.

As I walked across the room in search of a familiar face I spotted Sally there perched on the small leather sofa, deep in chatter. She seemed in a very animated mood. My face had just formed the beginnings of a smile when I noticed just who she was chatting to.

Eesh. I spun on the spot in an awkward one-eighty back to see what was taking Lily so damn long, but it was too late. I had been spotted.

Sally caught my eye and muttered something to Remus who didn't bother to turn around. "Hey Cheryl," she called with a smile. "Over here!"

I tried to resist a grimace as I walked over to the pair, sitting gingerly next to Sally. Remus did everything he could to avoid my eyes. What on earth was his problem? Why couldn't he just like me and get on with it.

"We were just talking about the big Quidditch match that's coming up soon," Sally told me eventually, slicing through the floundering silence that had begun to settle.

"Oh right," I nodded.

"Yeah, Remus says James can get us tickets. Fancy it?"

"Who's going?" I asked carefully.

"Me obviously, Remus here, James as they're his tickets-"

Get on with it, I willed, say the name. Say it.

"Peter, Marlene and Sirius."

Sirius would be there. I felt the familiar pressure rising in my chest, clawing to escape.

"Oh yeah, and Lily if she's up for it," Sally continued. "I hope she is, but you know what she's like."

"Well, if you can manage to get Lily to go I'll come along," I smiled weakly, knowing full well Lily would never willingly go anywhere with James.

"So how've you been?" Remus asked me, trying to keep his voice casual, only the tightness of his expression giving his true feelings away.

"I'm good thanks. Did you hear about James in the library the other day?" I asked in a desperate bid to ease the tension, before feeling incredibly foolish. Of course he had, he was their best friend.

"Erm, yeah," Remus replied awkwardly. "I think most people have heard about it by now."

"Lily didn't know," I added quickly, already feeling defensive.

"Lily's a pretty strict prefect, I'm sure most of us would try our best to stop her from finding out about things like that. Especially as it's common knowledge she doesn't particularly get on with James."

Remus seemed to have this uncanny knack of making me feel spectacularly stupid indeed. I wanted to think of a witty retort but all that sprang to mind was _yeah, well... whatever_.

"Lily won't say anything," I tried to reply off-handedly. Stupid mature Remus and his ability to make me feel about five years old.

After another uneasy silence in which I'm sure I spotted an actual tumbleweed roll past, Remus coughed pointedly. "Anyway, Sirius is in the showers at the moment Cheryl, so..."

What, was that my cue to leave? Why should I care where Sirius is or isn't?

I looked back at him perplexed, unsure of what reaction he had been hoping to get. It wasn't like everywhere I went I was on the look-out for Black.

"Oh is he?" I answered.

Sally glanced at Remus, both exchanging an irritatingly knowing look.

"It's just that, well, you two have seemed to be getting kind of close recently," Sally responded to my unspoken question.

"Sirius told me about your conversation in the common room the other day," Remus stated.

"Told you what?" I demanded, all my uncertainty around Lupin vanquished for now...Not once had I told Black that I would care in the slightest if he was in the showers.

"Well it's pretty obvious to everyone that something's going on between you two. You've hardly made it a secret," Remus replied impatiently. "Sirius told us it was reason you were always so attitude prone to him. Underlying feelings and all that. It explained a lot."

My eyebrows rose higher and higher up my forehead until they practically merged with my hairline.

That bloody git. That bloody, sodding git, Black!

"Cheeky so-" I got up, fumed for a second then sat back down.

"So you don't like him then?" Sally asked.

Remus looked at me calmly. "It has looked that way to be fair," he reasoned.

I glowered at him. Know-it-all Remus. "Which shower room?" I demanded.

Remus pointed in the direction of the boys dormitory staircase, looking at me like I needed to be bound immediately into a strait jacket.

With Remus and Sally looking on I marched over to where he had gestured and waited, and waited, until I had calmed down enough to realise I did not want to confront Black. That would mean talking to him.

x

Instead I walked resolutely out of the portrait door and carried on aimlessly until I exited the castle onto the twisted wooden bridge outside. I had crossed about halfway when I finally stopped and leaned over the rickety bannisters to look out at the lake. It was still, disturbed only by the odd ripple from a gust of wind or a rogue fish.

I crouched down and took a deep soothing breath in, my exhalation suddenly interrupted by a sharp bark echoing from some distant space to my right.

My breath caught in my throat.

Ever so slowly I forced my gaze in its direction. Steely liquid eyes met with my own, sheer metres away from where I crouched. The great black beast stared boldly back at me. An unuttered scream threatened to choke me there and then.

I had not yet seen it in daylight.

It's foreboding presence erred with the bright white sky and serene surroundings. It belonged as a looming monster in the shadows, not in everyday life. Especially not in _my_ everyday life. But sat there now it looked more and more like an ordinary dog, if a little big.

I stared back at it. Its eyes were squinted slightly, its expression strangely calm. It looked like it was enjoying the light breeze against its face.

"What do _you_ want?" I asked it, in no mood to be terrified to death.

It stared dolefully back at me.

"It's been a bad day." I, for some unknown reason, found myself apologising aloud.

Warily I got up and walked slowly towards it, something about it drawing me in. Knowing I was probably insane for doing so, I crouched back down by its side, pulling my hitched skirt down over my tight covered legs. It was hard to believe this was the same snarling creature as that first night.

The last attempt I had made to stroke it had resulted in my nearly losing a hand to its overlarge canines, something I very much believed it was more than capable of. Still, I yearned to touch it. The dark glossy fur looked soft and inviting, the dog's body huge but sleek. I had to admit it was a beautiful creature.

I lifted my hand up, testing its reaction. It did nothing more than look back at me with its bizarre, intelligent eyes.

Ever so gently I brought my fingertips down on its head. The contact made the creature start a little, but after that nothing.

I dared to flatten the palm of my hand against its neck. To my surprise the fur really was as soft as it looked. The texture reminded me of something I had felt once before, recently perhaps, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was.

I shuffled ever closer toward it, studying its large, impossibly serene face. It really was a handsome looking thing. I had my suspicions it was male, purely from its intimidating size and temperament.

I ran my nails up and down its cheek and it leaned into my touch. "Good boy," I marvelled quietly. "You seem to have warmed a bit since our last meeting then.

"You should know I haven't had a brilliant track record with dogs though. Not since my aunt's Jack Russell. Snappy little thing, Snuffles or something stupid. Then there was _you_ chasing me down the other night. Had a personality transplant since then, have we?" I demanded softly.

Footsteps on the bridge interrupted my ire, making my heart jolt.

We were well in the throes of winter now and the darkness of twilight had already started to overpower today's pale sky. The oncomer was almost on top of me before I could even make them out.

"Anthony." I stated, rising quickly to my feet. It was more of a shocked statement than a greeting.

"Who's your friend?" he asked, his voice cool but not altogether as harsh as I'd expected. His hand gestured toward the massive dog.

"No idea," I admitted, "stray I think." I felt more than a little uncomfortable at being alone with poor Anthony, alone apart from my recent canine friend.

"I'm so sorry about what happened in the pub that day, Ant." I blurted the words out like verbal diarrhea.

Ant frowned back at me. "I hadn't really given it a second thought if I'm honest, mate."

_Mate?_

"Ok." I replied simply, unsure what else to say.

"I was probably just drunk to be honest," he continued dismissively,"We were in a pub afterall. Maybe we should just try and be friends, I mean it's not like we really knew each other anyway."

Why was he making it sound like he was letting _me_ down gently?

"Ok..." I replied again slowly.

I glanced down briefly only to find the great dog had vanished. For some reason the brute had felt like my safety net. With him gone I wanted out of there.

"So anyway, might see you around," I said curtly, making to walk away.

Anthony called after me. "So that thing in the Broomsticks, was it just for my benefit, or..."

I thought I'd gotten away with Sirius's very-public kiss too easily. "It was just my friend's idea of a joke," I explained weakly. For some reason the idea of saying Sirius's name in front of Anthony made me cringe inwardly.

"Your 'friend', huh?" he snorted. "Never knew you were so chummy with Potter and co."

"I'm not," I corrected quickly, embarrassed now. _Friend, _the idea of Black and I being friends must've seemed ridiculous. To everyone. I hated to admit it, in popularity stakes at least Sirius was well out of my league.

Ant's expression softened. "Well if you ever want to be 'not friends' with someone else, you know where to find me..." he murmured.

"What happened to 'It's not like we even knew each other'?" I demanded, not bothering to hide my irritation.

Ant brushed his thumb against his lower lip briefly. "Just because I know we're never gonna get together, doesn't mean I don't think you're sexy," he shrugged, the corner of his mouth tugging upward cheekily.

At once I felt the whole of my face and neck flame a particularly unflattering shade of cerise.

Well. This was a first.

x

I think I may have floated back to the bedroom later that evening, Anthony's words ringing in my ears. I had never been seen in that way by the opposite sex before. While I probably should've been outraged all I could feel was flattered. Incredibly embarrassed, but flattered.

"Where've _you_ been?" Sally eyed me suspiciously as I walked in.

One glance around the room told me Mary was present, reading a magazine on her bed. This meant any talk of Ant was officially off the cards. I couldn't cope with any more of her irrational outbursts.

"Just went for a walk, " I replied dismissively, a hint of a smile still playing on my lips. "Did you know there's a stray dog roaming around the grounds?" I asked, changing the subject.

Dorcas looked back at me like she'd seen a ghost. "Of course," she replied, all the colour now drained from her small, round face. "It's like a spirit. Only ever seen at night, in the shadows. Chasing down any one who happens to pass by."

"I heard it killed someone," Marlene added solemnly.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sally cut in.

"You mean you've _all_ seen it?" I asked incredulously.

"_Everyone_ claims to have seen it, Cheryl," Sally replied. "It's like a Hogwarts horror story or something."

"Have _you_ seen it?" I asked her carefully.

She looked back at me as if thinking carefully about her answer. "I dunno. It's just a myth," she finally replied.

"Why do you ask anyway?" Dorcas asked me.

They were going to think I was mad, I thought grimly. "It came over to me just now on the bridge outside. It's absolutely massive, but it's just an ordinary dog," I added quickly, talking over their gasps.

"It was probably a completely different dog to the legend that's why," Mary intejected, putting in her two pence worth as usual.

"Anyway," I continued as if she hadn't spoken, still sore about her telling everyone I fancied Sirius. Including Sirius. "What have I missed?"

Marlene's face morphed into a cheek splitting grin and she motioned for me to hang on.

She rummaged around in her bedside trunk until she pulled out a large flat box and handed it to me.

It was decorated in some sort of richly coloured purple fabric with a particularly intricate brocade. The box alone looked incredibly expensive.

"What's in it?" I asked curiously.

"Only one way to find out," Marlene grinned knowingly.

I opened it up a crack at a time, not really trusting my friend not to have put something horrid in there.

But when I looked inside there was nothing there except the red sating lining of the box.

I looked up at the girls questioningly. "Is it supposed to be empty?"

Sally, Marlene and Dorcas all inexplicably cracked up with laughter.

"Am I missing something?" I asked, unable to keep my lips from quirking upwards at their infectious giggles.

Marlene gave the seemingly empty box a tap with her wand and muttered a brief spell.

In a second the lush purple box was brimming with a set of equally luxurious black silken dress robes. "How on earth did you afford these?" I marvelled.

"They're just a set of old calico robes from lost and found that we charmed," Dorcas admitted.

"But why?" I asked, baffled.

"Check the tag." Sally replied.

I obediently picked up the small gold embossed card hanging innocently from the side of the box and read it aloud.

_'To Sirius,_

_Wishing you many happy returns for now and the future. _

_We hope you have a brilliant birthday and make good use of our gift!_

_Best wishes,_

_Mr & Mrs Potter'_

Marlene let out a maniacal laugh.

But I still wasn't getting it. Was the joke that the box would be empty when Sirius first opened it on his birthday? Or perhaps that the luxury robes he thought were from the 'Potters' were actually just stinky old calico stolen from lost and found?

"Try them on over your clothes," Sally pressed.

The robes were a little big on me, but they would likely fit Sirius perfectly.

I walked over to the mirror to inspect them but was frozen to the spot when I saw my reflection.

x

The robes were gone.

I looked down quickly. Sure enough the black silk still hung fetchingly over my clothes, but when I looked back in the mirror the robes were nowhere to be seen.

"It's another particularly brilliant charm," Sally explained rather proudly.

Suddenly it all fell into place.

This was what they had been planning all this time. Ever since Black headed the mirror stunt against us leaving us in just our underwear.

I had never expected my friends to actually go through with it though. Who knew revenge came in a box?

"We're going to leave this_ gift_ from 'James's parents' in the boys bedroom on Sirius's birthday," Marlene smirked. "When Sirius comes down to breakfast wearing it, all Sally has to do is give one shake of her wand and voila! The robes disappear leaving old Siri in just his undercrackers."

"Just like he did with us," Dorcas added.

"Sirius'll never be none the wiser," Sally laughed. "He'll be getting all these looks and have absolutely no idea why."

I stared open mouthed at their efforts for a second.

"It's genius," I admitted.


	18. Bittersweet

******A/N Many thanks for the positive feedback and alerts/favs :)**

_I was listening to Titanium covered by Madilyn Bailey a lot writing this. Probably explains why it gets a bit angsty lol. I think the lyrics fit Sirius & Cheryl pretty well though.  
_

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******Chapter 18**

**Bittersweet  
**

I crammed a spoonful of cornflakes into my mouth while I listened half heartedly to the girls talking about the upcoming national Quidditch tournament. Sally and Remus had mentioned it briefly the other day, but apparently it was a bigger deal than I had thought. Some sort of semi-final match between England and Germany.

According to Sally it was the first time in around forty years that England had gotten to the semi-finals. This news didn't really surprise me.

"You coming to the match then Lily?" Sally demanded, interrupting the red head's demolition of a fruit salad.

Lily grimaced. "Not really my thing though is it?" she appealed.

"Well if you don't come Cheryl's said that she won't come. And that'll be two people who are being boring. So COME."

"Cheryl's a big girl. I'm sure she can go without me," Lily replied simply.

I shot her a look, shaking my head almost imperceptibly.

Lily didn't seem to understand I had only used her as an excuse not to go because of, well, Sirius.

He would be there.

For one brief moment the other night everything that passed between Sirius and myself had felt impossibly real.

But that was days ago. We hadn't spoken since, and I quickly realised it had all just been part of the game for him. Testing how far I would let him go.

It seemed like he would never get bored of having fun at the expense of the girl who'd never been kissed.

I could only be glad I'd told him no, however feebly.

"Er, you're drooling." James Potter's voice interrupted my reverie. He was gesturing at me with his half eaten sausage sandwich, grinning from across the table.

I looked down with a jolt. It was just milk dripping off my still raised spoon. "Har har," I replied.

"So you decided who's coming this Saturday then, girls?" He asked us, focusing on Lily's response. "If I'm gonna get tickets I need numbers."

I hadn't even noticed him and Peter come over. Remus was sat at James' other side peering back at me as if I was insane. As usual.

But Sirius was nowhere to be seen.

Without really thinking my eyes scanned the busy breakfast hall.

"He's still in bed," Remus answered my unspoken question, casually munching a slice of toast.

My cheeks burned.

Oh god, I realised. Remus was right.

I really had been looking for Black. What was wrong with me?

_I'm an idiot_, I realised painfully.

x

"Alright mate!" I vaguely heard Potter call the greeting through the dull ringing noise that had started up in my ears. "Thought you'd never get out of bed!"

I looked up only to find Sirius himself strolling over to our table.

My insides squirmed. In my peripheral vision I could see Remus studying my reaction closely. _Bog off Lupin_, I willed.

Sirius really did look shattered, like he had rolled straight from his bed to the hall. His hair rivalled even James.

He came to a halt behind Peter and stretched his arms up, revealing a sliver of his lower stomach.

I forced my eyes away from it and bit my lip hard in a bid to keep my mind focused. This was not good. _Out of everyone_, I asked myself, _why _him?

"Didn't get much sleep to be honest mate," he admitted, letting his arms fall down. "Haven't been able to in a while."

He took the free seat opposite me next to Remus while the others went back to tallying up the price of nine Quidditch tickets. It seemed Lily and I were going whether we liked it or not.

Sirius helped himself to half a dozen slices of bacon, his eyes skimming over the other plates of food. Eventually he reached out for the stack of fried bread just in front of me.

As he took it he happened to glance up, catching my gaze. I saw his right eye twitch at me ever so slightly before he went back to eating his food.

x

The morning post dropped a letter in front of James, skimming the milk jug expertly.

"It's from my parents," James stated, making short work of tearing it.

He read through it quickly.

"Looks like the folks know it's your birthday tomorrow, Padfoot. They're sending a present over with tonight's post."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Nice of them." He commented.

My eyes darted to Marlene and Sally. They smirked back at me. The letter had come from them all right. Looked like tonight was the night Sirius would receive our little gift.

I looked over at him now. He was distracted with eating his fried bread, sucking sauce from his thumb briefly.

Sirius in just his underwear, I mused.

For some reason the idea wasn't _un_appealing.

x

After breakfast Sally and I made our way over to Potions. We skipped in just in time before Slughorn heaved the door shut marking the start of the lesson.

"Mr Potter, Mr Black, would you kindly take your seats, gentlemen," Slughorn berated good humouredly.

The pair had been hovering over Severus whose face was left extremely sour at whatever they'd had to say.

It wasn't just my life they had been making a misery all these years.

I don't know why I had thought Black had somehow changed, but the idea of him still bullying Snape left a bitter taste in my mouth. Even if he did deserve it.

Once class had finished Severus grabbed his textbook roughly from the table in his haste to escape and knocked a spare conicle of water flying. The glass smashed against the stone floor loudly. Slughorn looked up over his reading glasses. "You'll have to clean that up I'm afraid, m'boy," he chided.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Perfect." He muttered inaudibly. There was only a few of us left in the class by this point, and Black was amongst them. It was obvious Snape didn't want to be stuck in here alone with him.

The pale, greasy haired boy murmured a drying spell, casting a perfect Reparo on the shattered flask.

As soon as it was done he bolted for the door like a whippet. But Black was quick. He was on Snape's heels before he'd even left the room.

"You coming?" Sally prompted me.

We walked just behind the two boys, Black flanking Snape's right. Neither of them had noticed us. Black was busy spitting furious words into Snape's ear.

"You can't seem to keep your abnormally large nose out of other people's business, can you _Snivellus_?" He sneered derisively.

"If you really want to find out where he goes every month, why don't you come see for yourself tomorrow night," he dared Snape.

"You always suspected it had something to do with the Whomping Willow's existence." Black's smirk was twisted, unnatural. "What if I told you you were right _all_ _along_? And it couldn't be easier to follow him, all you have to do is-"

Black leaned in closer to Snape at this point, telling him something frustratingly inaudible.

"That's if you're not a snivelling coward as well as a slimey Death Eater, eh _Snivellus,_" Black spoke freely again. "You know, it's funny," he continued, shaking his head, "even my brother can't stand you... You really don't fit in anywhere. Do you?"

Black laughed coldly and walked away without a second glance. Severus said nothing, keeping his head down as he walked briskly down the corridor leading to the Slytherin common room and away from us.

Sally and I looked at one another in shock. "Severus is a Death Eater?" She uttered in disbelief.

I narrowed my eyes, "What did Black mean, _'If you want to find out where he goes every month see for yourself tomorrow night?' _Where _who_ goes? And what's the Whomping Willow got to do with anything?"

Sally just shook her head. "Wish I knew."

x

"What were you talking to Snivellus about?" James asked curiously when Sirius jogged after him. They made their way up the boys staircase.

"Just telling him a few home truths," he replied.

James nodded in the affirmative. "Hm. Merlin knows he needs them. Greasy idiot."

Sirius lounged back on his bed, resting his arms behind his neck. "So what d'you fancy doing before dinner?" he asked.

James didn't answer, peoccupied with a folded piece of parchment he had pulled from his back pocket. He gave it a tap with his wand and it opened out into a large intricate map of the grounds.

James' scanned the small moving images until he came across the one that read _Lily Evans._

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Perving at her on there isn't going to bring her to you, you know mate."

"She's in the bathroom," James stated, his eyes beginning to glaze over. "Probably taking a bath," he added.

"Yep.. that's what people usually do in a bathroom Prongs," Sirius replied tiredly.

When James refused to tear his eyes away Sirius sat up and snapped his fingers impatiently. "Hey! Snap out of it! If this is what Evans does to you you're better off without her."

James frowned opening his mouth to retort, but a tapping on the bedroom window distracted them both.

The two boys looked at one another before both bolted towards it.

Sirius grabbed the window latch first and pulled on it roughly, catching the magnificent owl on the other side spectacularly off guard.

James laughed as his family's bird came toppling into the room. The rather large box that was attached securely to its ankle fell with it until it was hard to discern where bird ended and box began.

The huge owl righted itself immediately, bustling its feathers. Without looking at either boy it profferred its left leg pompously.

"Awh, don't be like that Pendragon," James chuckled, releasing the bird from the box.

Sirius picked up the purple package addressed to him. "Er, thanks," he told the expectant owl.

The owl hooted indignantly.

James laughed again, "Don't worry Penny, I'll get you a treat." At the mention of treat Penny looked considerably happier.

"That's a _girl_?" Sirius exclaimed dubiously. "Merlin Penny. No offense love, but you're huge."

Penny didn't look too impressed.

James walked over to his draw and got out a bar of open white chocolate. "Just don't tell Mum and Dad about the chocolate," he warned the bird as she made light work of the few chunks in his hand.

With a quick farewell peck at James' hair Penny was gone, her huge wingspan barely skimming through the window.

"Well... open it up!" James called as he shut the cool breeze out once more.

"But it's not my birthday 'til tomorrow," Sirius protested.

James looked at him as if he had grown an extra head.

Sirius grinned. "Gotcha."

"Ahhh," the two boys chorused.

Sirius ripped easily into the package. He let out a low whistle: in the box was a perfect set of silken black robes.

"Wow."

Five minutes later he emerged from the bathroom fully suited up in his new luxury ensemble. "What d'ya think?" he asked James, catwalking into the room. "Do I look sexy?"

"Honestly?" James answered, "I think you've turned me."

"Well just you keep your filthy paws off my silky draws, Potter."

"I'm not the one with filthy paws mate," James reminded with a chuckle.

Sirius pointed an accusing finger at his friend, "I'll have you know I keep my paws spotless. You could eat off my pads."

James made a grotesque retching noise.

"On that note..." Sirius grinned, "...You coming down to dinner?"

"You're wearing those?" James gestured skeptically to the dressy garb his friend still wore.

Sirius pulled a face, "Of course. Girls go mad for silk. They won't be able to keep their hands off me."

"Ah," James' mouth tugged knowingly. "And by 'girls' you mean Cheryl, right?"

"Leave it." Sirius warned. "Listen, why don't you you catch up with Moony and Pete and go on ahead. I'll be down in a minute."

x

Marlene rubbed her hands together excitedly and filled her plate with chicken and mushroom bake. "Ooh this is gonna be so gooood."

"The food or the prank?" I half-joked.

"Both," Marlene grinned, "But mainly the prank."

We had arrived at dinner as soon as the doors had opened, not wanting to miss Black's big entrance.

To my right Dorcas giggled randomly to herself.

"She's been like this all day," Marlene gestured at the smaller girl.

"She can't wait to see Sirius in his undies that's why," Sally shot teasingly.

"Hey!" Dorcas laughed, but a blush crept onto her face nonetheless.

"How can you be sure he won't just save the present for his birthday tomorrow anyway?" I asked curiously. "That's what most people would do."

"Sirius _always_ opens his presents early," Sally replied simply. "He isn't most people."

"Hey, don't look now," She gestured to the entrance.

Remus had just entered.

Peter trailed just behind, his eyes already absent from his head and out devouring the masses of food. James followed close behind, but after that... nothing.

No Black.

"Where is he?" Marlene spoke aloud what we were all thinking.

"One of us should go wait at the entrance and let the others know when he's coming," Marlene stated matter of factly.

"Sally needs to stay here to cast the charm on his robes," Dorcas commented.

"I'll go," I offered. I quite fancied the idea of playing a key role in the embarrassment of Black in front of the whole school. Considering our past it was fitting.

It would also prove to myself once and for all that there was no way I could have developed feelings for an outright bully, too.

x

Positioning my body just behind the outward jutting wall that signified the frame of the entrance hall doorway, I held back so that -at first glance- I would be obscured from view.

So many people seemed to walk by before I spotted someone even remotely tall and dark haired. It was Black all right. And he was wearing the long trick robes, just had we'd planned.

The outfit actually kind of suited him. Pity for him it wouldn't be hanging around for long.

I sent a vibration through my wand all the way to Sally's, a sign that Black was on his way.

With just a tiny flick of her wrist and a few mutterings Black's clothes obediently started to fade as he walked. The few students that were littered outside the hall were already looking, clearly bemused.

Black strolled straight past me without even realising I was there.

He had just reached the large open doorway, clearly surveying the hall for his friends and I could already hear a few gasps littered around the hall.

Expecting to see Black in just his underpants I turned around to laugh, but I quickly realised something had gone slightly awry.

There, with his back to me, facing into the student packed hall, stood a completely naked Sirius Black.

x

I spotted my friends and saw that Marlene was practically doubled over, her face bright pink from raucous laughter. Sally's mouth was open wide enough to catch flies, and Dorcas had covered her eyes. Out of sheer embarrassment, I think.

He had chosen today of all days to go commando.

Black seemed taken aback by the reaction he seemed to be getting from people.

He looked down at himself in confusion, but as I had found out the night before part of the charm meant he would never know something was wrong until he looked at his own reflection.

I pressed my lips together. Surely this trick had gone too far, even for Black to have to endure?

But then, he hadn't cared all those times he'd set me up to be publically laughed at, left me to be friendless. Why should I care now...?

Except that I did, I realised.

Games or no games, I very much doubted he would let me stand in front of the whole school naked as the day I was born.

That was it. I'd made up my mind.

x

Walking determinedly toward him I grasped him silently by the hand and pulled him away from the firing line.

There were a few boos from the ready audience.

"Hey, what's going on?" he demanded, bemused not only by the reaction he had gotten in the hall but also by the fact I was, for some reason, touching him.

The temptation was fast becoming far too great to stray my focus from his face, so ignoring his question I frantically tried the locks to all the classrooms along the way, pulling him as I searched for a quick escape route. It looked as though Filch had been doing his job a little too well; not one of them was open.

"Are you going to answer me, or-?" Black sounded a little impatient now, wresting his hand from mine.

I twisted one of the door handles and a faint click sounded. _Finally._

I pulled Black in without a second's thought, only to find us bathed in complete darkness.

"Lumos," Black muttered.

His wand shone a focused spotlight on our faces.

"Where were you keeping that?" I wondered aloud.

"My robes..." he stated as if it were obvious. "Now, are you going to talk or am I going to have to make you-?"

But all my mind could focus on was his unrealised nudity, and the darkness, and the fact that the room we were in seemed no bigger than a store cupboard.

I pressed my lips together, stalling for time.

"Because you should know you're acting strangely even for you," he continued, looking down at me as if I were mad. "If you'd wanted me all to yourself with the lights off all you had to do was ask-"

"Listen, I'm really sorry," I interrupted quickly, "but those robes you think you're wearing. They're not what you think. Here, shine a light on your chest a minute," I ordered, thinking it best to show rather than tell.

I retrieved a pocket mirror from my jeans. "Here, look." I showed him his apparently bare chest in the reflection.

For a second he was silent. A wave of realisation washed over his face. "Are the robes like this everywhere?" he demanded.

I nodded once.

His eyes narrowed at me.

"No. The Potter's wouldn't do this," he shook his head in denial. "They took me in only this summer after my parents-" He stopped suddenly.

"They wouldn't do this to me," he repeated.

"Well, they didn't," I admitted begrudgingly, my voice low.

"It was just supposed to be a joke," I tried. "You were supposed to be wearing boxers. How were we meant to know you weren't wearing anything?"

Black stared back at me. "You did this..." It wasn't a question.

"I'm sorry," I realised. "There's nothing else I can say. It was just supposed to get you back for what you did to us."

"Are you kidding me?" He exclaimed. His expression was contorting furiously now. "How are you_ still_ obsessing over that after all this time?"

"You've always done whatever you can to humiliate _me_," I retorted, feeling my anger rise. "Suddenly it's different when the shoe's on the other foot? You're a _bully_ Black. How does that make you feel, knowing that deep down you're no better than that family of yours-"

I knew I'd gone too far as soon as the words passed my lips. I watched his eyes flash, glaring into mine.

His voice was dangerously calm when he spoke again. "You like to run around with Evans pretending that you're always the victim, trying to make people feel _sorry_ for you. You're no better than the rest of us.

"At least me and James have the balls to say what's on our mind instead of letting our own vile thoughts rot us from the inside out. Sure, you're attractive now, well done," he congratulated sarcastically. "It means _nothing_ if you're ugly inside."

His words hit me like a physical blow.

"You'd know all about being ugly inside Black!" I spat, my pride wounded. "You bloody hypocrite."

Black looked back at me in resignation. "You want to know something really hilarious?" he asked me. "Up until now I'd thought getting a birthday present from James's parents was a sign I finally fit into a normal family." He shook his head at me. "You can go tell that to your stupid friends. Give yourselves a good laugh."

He brushed past me and slammed open the door.

As he walked away I vaguely noticed his robes were inexplicably visible again. Perhaps even Sally had realised it'd gone too far.

"Wait," I called after him. "Sirius!" My guilt forced his name out.

Sirius stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around.

I made my way over to his back yearning to touch him, give him some sort of comfort. But this was all such unfamiliar territory to me. My hand reached out to him, faltering at the back of his shoulder.

His body heaved slowly up and down with deep, furious breaths.

I took a step closer until mere inches separated my chest from his back.

Swallowing my nerve I placed my hands on the sides of his arms. The unexpected touch made him flinch visibly.

Leaning forward I balanced my weight on the tips of my toes, bringing my face closer to the back of his head.

"I'm sorry, Sirius," I murmured with all the feeling I could muster, my words reverberating against the side of his neck.

Sirius's entire body convulsed. From shock or disgust, I wasn't sure.

x

Slowly he turned around to face me.

His grey eyes studied mine carefully.

"You look so different Morland, but it's still you in there isn't it?" He muttered to himself. "Impossibly insecure. Frustratingly shy. Still petrified of getting close to anyone. To think I was actually starting to-"

He breathed an affected laugh.

"Starting to what?" I demanded.

"It really doesn't matter now," Sirius snapped.

"I never meant the joke to go that far," I told him seriously. "If I'd known about you leaving home, and the Potters... and everything... I never would have let it happen. I _never_ believed it would hurt you this much." As I said it I realised it was true.

The words hung awkwardly in the air. We stood there searching one another's face for what felt like forever.

Sirius finally scoffed. "I thought you wanted revenge," he replied softly. "Surely all this turned out better than you ever could've expected."

"Well Cheryl," he smiled ironically, "At least you can say you finally got me back-"

Before I really knew what I was doing my fingers had slid their way into the short shock of black hair at the back of his head. Without another thought of the many consequences it could have, I dragged his face closer.

His eyes darted to mine briefly before his mouth met my own.

The kiss lasted no more than a second, but it was enough to feel his warm, soft lips brush against mine.


	19. Second Chances

**A/N: Thank you lots for the support! It's greatly appreciated :) Hope you enjoy the aftermath of last time.  
**

_I was mostly listening to Muse Knights of Cydonia & Gangnam Style while writing this chapter. Though I think that says more about my choice in music than the actual content!_**  
**

* * *

**Chapter 19**

**Second Chances  
**

As I stepped back it dawned on me what I'd done.

Sheer unadulturated mortification coursed through my veins. I had given Black my _first_ kiss.

If he hadn't have looked so damned pitiable I never would have. Except that Sirius didn't look all that distraught anymore.

In fact, he looked back at me now like it was an alien that had just snogged his face off.

Before he had chance to say anything I probably wouldn't want to hear I retreated quickly, leaving him speechless in my wake.

x

"Well did he reciprocate?" Lily demanded of me, her bright green eyes impossibly wide.

I shifted on the soft cream couch in her private Prefect's bedroom, studying the different shades of plush red carpet as though my life depended on it.

After the 'incident' I had immediately sought solice in there.

I couldn't bring myself to look back at her when I replied. "He put his hands on my waist," I replied tiredly, "But that may have been just to push me off. Oh, I don't know Lily."

I closed my eyes tight in a bid to shut out the memory of what had happened, but yet another tidal wave of shame came fast tumbling over me.

Getting up, I headed to the leaded window and stuck my uncomfortably heated face out.

"Do you actually even like him?" she called from behind me dubiously. "I always thought the two of you came under the same category as me and Potter: Never going to happen. I thought he bullied you-?" she pressed, clearly not understanding what on earth I had been thinking.

I wasn't entirely sure I did either.

"He's different when no one's around," I argued. "Kind of." I was fully aware of how foolish I must have sounded.

Lily looked unconvinced. "I know he flirts with you a lot," she conceded doubtfully. "But I always thought you understood, _everything_ is a joke to him and Potter."

_No_. It wasn't as simple as that. "When we're alone the flirting is different. Like in that moment he genuinely wants something to happen." _Ugh._ Why did everything I said sound so much like childish naivety.

Lily looked back at me silently, obviously stricken by the phrase 'if you can't say anything nice-'.

I flopped back on the couch and smothered my face hopelessly with a pillow, groaning loudly into the padding.

A gentle hand on my shoulder brought me back into the room. Peeking out I saw that Lily had crouched by my side, her expression resolute.

"I'm going to ask you something, but you need to answer it completely truthfully," she stated earnestly. "If not to me, then yourself."

I frowned back at her in response.

"When the kiss ended, who finished it? Who pulled away first?" Her pretty eyes penetrated my own for an answer.

I thought back, unwillingly replaying what had happened.

I'd pulled him towards me. He'd looked completely bemused even then. His mouth had closed in on mine and-

I exhaled silently.

"I did." I finally realised.

x

I stirred the next morning to a single ray of weak winter sunshine peeking through the dormitory window. Sally's shrill alarm had woken me early.

"Sorry," she mouthed a quick apology before heading in to the bathroom to get ready.

It was Thursday morning and I had a double free first thing, and I was by no means in a rush to leave the safe confines of the dorm.

Who knew what kind of rumours had spread since last night? Our prank, Sirius's nudity, the fact that the quiet girl had snogged one of the most popular boys in school.

I cringed. It wasn't like we hadn't given people enough ammo.

It was too much to hope that Sirius hadn't told anyone about the kiss.

It had been late when I'd arrived back at the girls' bedroom last night and I still hadn't told anyone but Lily about what happened after the joke that went too far.

"See you later, Chel." Sally called as she left the bedroom for Herbology, leaving me -thankfully- all alone.

"See yer," I called after her, feeling the start of yet another random wash of shame about last night suffocating me from nowhere. I closed my eyes and shook my head vigorously. "La la la la la," I muttered in an attempt to block it out, getting up from bed in one swift movement.

I knew I would have to face the world at some point, but not just yet. I had two hours to kill.

x

I let the soothing warm water of the shower pour over me, scrubbing away the night before.

Sitting at my bedside table wrapped in the cosiest white towel I could find I used a quick drying spell, straightening out my usually thick wavy hair. Today called for a change. I needed confidence if I was going to get through it. Shed loads of it.

I took the time to dress carefully, rummaging out my favourite pair of high-waisters.

Dressing quickly to stave the chill of the stone room, I finally left the comfort of the walls and headed to the library to kill the last hour before my Care Of lesson.

x

I worked my way to the seating area without so much as a glance around me, avoiding the risk of catching anyone staring after what had happened yesterday.

I turned the corner passing the last aisle of books, noticing a student no taller than myself heaving what looked like a tome down from a high shelf too late.

We collided heavily, leaving their ancient-looking book to fall to the ground like a lead weight. We were instantly encased in a cloud of dust.

"What the-" _cough, _"-hell-" _cough, _"-do you think you're doing?" Snape demanded, glaring back at me. "Think you're above using your eyes like a normal person, or has Black convinced you you can go around shoving whoever you please just like him?"

Ignoring his anger I bent down to heave his book up, glancing at the cover:

**_'Lycanthropy: Unlocking the Mystery of the Full Moon'_**

Snape snatched it abruptly from my hands. "And I'd thank you to keep your nose out of other people's business," he snapped.

I held my hands up in defense. "Calm down," I replied. "Won't bother next time."

"See that you don't." He replied curtly, stalking away book clenched firmly in hand.

I shook my head. Snape really did have issues. Whether he had it in him to be a cold-blooded Death Eater as Sirius had said though, I wasn't so sure.

x

After what felt like forever the last of today's lessons was over and I had somehow avoided a full on meeting with any member of the Marauders four all day.

I had stared resolutely toward the blackboard during our shared class, Transfiguration, leaving quickly with the bell.

My eyes had met with Sirius' just once throughout the whole lesson. He'd stared pointedly back as if to say something. Luckily for me two rows of tables and far too many of our classmates separated us.

When I dragged my gaze away I noticed Sirius rub his hands roughly over his face from the corner of my eye, leaning his elbows forward onto the table. His expression seemed exasperated.

"Chel!" Marlene greeted as I walked into the common room ten minutes later.

She jogged over to me. "Up top," she called, raising her hand.

People were openly staring at us, probably thanks to the fact we'd been stupid enough to prank the pranksters. Marlene didn't seem to care less.

I slapped her hand without enthusiasm.

"Hey, what's up with you?" she exclaimed. "Those robes we sent worked better than even _I_ could've imagined!"

I breathed an ironic laugh. "Yep."

"What, you're trying to tell me you're not ecstatic Sirius got completely humiliated in front of the whole school?"

I grimaced. "Ugh. Don't remind me."

Marlene frowned. She grabbed me and pretended to feel my brow with the palm of her hand. "Who are you and what have you done with Cheryl?" She demanded.

I breathed a weak laugh and pulled away. "It's a long story."

"You're lucky I don't have time to ask," she threatened.

"Why, what's going on now?" I looked around properly now. For some reason people had started hanging long red and yellow streamers from the ceiling of the common room.

Others were blowing up humongous golden balloons the size of a small adult with the tips of their wands. The monsters _shhh'd_ as though filled with sand when they were rolled away.

"Are you joking?" She replied. "It's only _Sirius's_ birthday."

My face scrunched. "All this just for him?"

"He's popular." She stated matter of factly.

Even after everything that had happened, Sirius was _still_ somehow at the top of the food chain. I marvelled at how he managed it. Legilimency perhaps? Or just dangerously charismatic.

All the best tyrants were.

"You coming to get ready then?" Marlene asked.

Actually, I was already chewing on the idea of hiding in the bedroom all night.

"I can't come."

"Why?" She demanded.

"I've got a headache," I lied.

"Dancing will fix that." She replied simply. Linking my arm she dragged me to the dormitory staircase as though that was the last word.

x

I glanced around at the other girls outfits out of curiosity. Sally was planning on wearing a dress similar to my own in style, but in a shade of red so vivid it could take your eyes out. Marlene's outfit choice, colour or shape didn't matter much to her I realised, as long as her -admittedly large- cleavage took pride of place.

"Ooh I like your dress," Dorcas commented to me as she breezed past spritzing her perfume. She wore a blue halterneck.

"Thanks," I replied doubtfully, feeling like my outfit was the most boringly safe choice imaginable.

I caught sight of Mary's. It was a steel-grey number. She glared over when she caught me looking, widening her eyes at me briefly.

I flicked my gaze away would-be tiredly, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of a reaction. Stupid cow. Her attitude problem toward me had practically doubled since Ant and I made up that night on the bridge. Mary probably couldn't stand the idea that she had no one to bitch to that actually knew me personally now.

At least I hoped Ant wasn't still joining in.

Well, I thought resignedly, if I was to be forced to go to the stupid party I was damned well going in style.

As it was, tonight's getting ready was actually more about proving to Sirius -and anyone else for that matter- that he shouldn't have found it absolutely disgusting I had kissed him like that.

I still remembered his face after it had happened. The immense shock plastered there would have almost been funny had it not been directed at _my_ lips.

Dressing up, doing my hair, playing with makeup; they were the only things I felt like I had control over. And even that was one step up from my years spent as the Beaver.

I had but one dress to choose from to prove my point, it being more of a hopeful purchase of mine than something I'd actually worn out.

Unzipping the side fastening I stepped into my short black safety net, pulling the strapless sweetheart neck firmly up to my chest.

It was basic compared to the other girls choices, but I was more than happy to play it safe.

Sitting back on my backside as carefully as I could so as not to rip a seam I emptied out my make up bag onto the table.

Above my bed were posters and cards of Muggle celebrities collected during my year at Magherafelt high school in Ireland. My eyes landed on Twiggy's doe eyed look staring statically back at me from a mounted postcard.

Grabbing my eyeliner resolutely I got to work copying the infamous model's statement look.

Marlene came over just as I'd finished. "Not bad." She commented. _Don't hold back on the compliments Marlene, really._ "Here take this." She handed me a rather flamboyant pink lipstick.

Not used to wearing the stuff, I checked myself in the mirror afterward and frowned. I looked like I belonged in a circus. A camp one at that. Marlene hovered behind me, "Looks good," she said genuinely.

I let out a nervous laugh and waited until she had gone to rub vaseline over it.

As I headed for the door I gave my straightened hair a quick comb before joining the other girls in the all-important faffing with filling our clutch bags.

x

As we made our way down the stairs the nerves started to really kick in. What if people thought I had made all this effort just for Sirius? What if _Sirius_ thought that?

This had been such a bad idea. If it hadn't been for my tottering heels and the barracade of girls behind me I probably would've raced back up the staircase there and then.

What was I supposed to prove getting dressed up like this? Oh look how pretty I look so you can't possibly take the piss out of me?

As we crossed the threshold the party was well under way. A few people were wearing eye masks like they'd taken it upon themselves it was to be a masquerade ball, while others were lounging about in nothing more than jeans and a tee. I was extremely relieved to find most of the Gryffindor fifth years had made a simillar effort to ourselves.

A disco ball apparently suspended by nothing but thin air rotated slowly near the ceiling, casting shards of moving light over the party goers.

The monster balls that we had seen being blown up earlier were now bobbing up and down over the crowds, pushed from one outstretched hand to the other like a over-large buoy tossed across a sea.

Marlene immediately beelined to the make-shift dancefloor to show off her moves.

She beckoned over to the rest of us but we were having none of it. I needed to be plied with some sort of liquid persuasion if I was to even think about heading to the area of polished floor.

x

Grabbing me by the hands Sally led me over to where Remus stood near the fireplace, leaving Dorcas talking to Alice Prewett. Remus couldn't have looked more out of place if he tried. Still wearing the same sweater from classes earlier, his expression was oddly pensive.

"Hey Remus!" Sally called over the sound of the throbbing music. Kiss were belting out Rock & Roll All Nite from the many speakers littering the room.

Remus managed a forced smile, glancing at his watch. _What was up with him? _

"Hi yourself," he replied, raising his plastic cup.

"Having fun?" Sally questioned with a smile.

"It's not really my cup of tea," Remus admitted.

Sally nodded, but looked a little put out.

I tried not to make eye contact with him, wondering if Remus knew about what had happened between me and his friend. _Probably,_ I thought grimly.

Remus checked his watch again in what looked like a habit that had been going on all night. His eyes darted furtively out of the window towards the darkening sky. _Perhaps he's looking for an escape route._ I smirked slyly.

"Any sign of the birthday boy?" Sally asked him, peering around.

Remus glanced at me before answering. "He's over there," he pointed, addressing me as though I'd asked the question.

Yeah, he definitely knew what had happened. I was amazingly grateful for the dim lights hiding the rather unattractive blush I was sure was creeping up my face.

As if he had sensed it, Sirius chose that precise moment to look over and spot all three of us openly eyeballing him. He had been chatting to a group of 'popular' girls I usually did my best to avoid from our Potions class.

The wide grin that had been on Sirius's face faltered when he saw us. Saying something inaudible to the gaggle of overly made up girls, he started to make his way over to us.

My heart made a flying leap into my throat.

"I'm going to get some more juice I think," Remus told us. "You coming Sal?"

Sally seemed unsure, but with Remus looking point blank at me I had no way of begging her not to go. Not to leave me on my own to face the ever approaching Sirius.

_You absolute git, Remus!_ I cursed to myself violently as the pair walked away leaving me stranded.

Sirius was just a few feet away -still walking pointedly in my direction- when I made a last minute split second decision to leg it.

Walking as fast as my heels and the crammed groups of crowd would allow I headed for the safety of the girls staircase, not allowing myself to so much as glance back.

My shoe had just reached the second step when I felt the floor collapse from under me. .

As I fell toward him I saw Sirius move his foot back with a slightly smug look. He'd triggered the staircase on purpose.

He caught me around the waist and I righted myself quickly.

"Going somewhere?" he asked.

x

I stared back up at him, words failing me.

My eyes subconsciously fell on his perfect mouth. I felt my face re-colour when I realised those lips had been on mine not twenty four hours before.

"Been avoiding me by any chance?" he challenged, his expression dark but amused.

"No," I stated.

Sirius breathed a laugh and nodded slowly. "'Course." He replied. "Regretting what you did already, I take it?"

He looked at me as though waiting for an answer.

"Probably as much as you." I tried to keep my voice casual.

"Who said I regretted it?" He replied easily.

I examined his expression. As always it was hard to tell if he was serious.

"Your reaction I think." I said dryly, remembering his silence and the incredibly disturbed look on his face.

"Well you had just kissed me," he cried as if it were obvious."Out of nowhere. How was I supposed to react? You always come across as so innocent. Forgive for being just a little surprised."

I looked away to stop myself from saying anything I would regret.

"Was I your first kiss?" He asked after a while, his voice sounding earnest and curious.

"None of your business." I replied without hesitation.

Sirius nodded. "I'll take that as a yes, then. Don't worry, I'm flattered."

His arrogance struck a nerve. "Well you shouldn't be," I told him seriously. "It was a huge mistake on my part."

His expression faltered for the briefest of moments before he recovered himself.

"It kills you to admit that you want me, doesn't it?"

"I felt sorry for you." I dismissed.

"Kiss everyone you feel bad for, do you?" Sirius replied sarcastically.

When I refused to answer, he changed tack.

"You look good tonight you know, Morland," he murmured, regarding me thoughtfully.

"We're back on surname basis then?" I asked.

Sirius's mouth quirked upward. Resting a hand underneath my chin, he coaxed it upward until I was forced to look up at him. My heart strummed uncomfortably.

He studied my face until I felt the first few familiar pangs of insecurity. His silence felt more and more suffocating by the minute.

"Strange." He commented to himself finally.

I looked back at him bemused.

"Your eyes," he muttered. He repeated the words he'd said to me once before. "Different colours. Like a dog."

His softer voice this time did nothing to take the sting out of the obvious insult.

"Heterochromia," I corrected in irritation.

Sirius frowned and gave a half laugh. "It wasn't an insult. Dogs are amazing."

His words triggered the memory of the huge black dog I had seen in the grounds, with it's strangely human eyes.

Sirius's face had crept dangerously close without my realising, shutting down any coherent thought.

The only thing I could process after that was the exact texture of his lips against mine, commanding them to part. Dry and smooth.

His large hands gripped the back of my neck, anchoring himself to me, deepening the kiss. A faint taste of Firewiskey lingered where his tongue grazed mine from the spiked punch.

The general hubbub of our surroundings became nothing more than a silent blur.

Nothing could have prepared me for the way Sirius was kissing me now.

I couldn't help but question if any of it was really happening. It had all the symptoms of a amazing dream.

If it was, it was the cruelest delusion in the history of man.

x

"Sorry... but I have to go now."

In my daze I thought for a brief moment that the words had belonged to Sirius, until I realised his mouth was still fixed firmly on my own.

We both stopped abruptly, pushing away from one another reflexively.

It was Remus. He looked back at Sirius apologetically. "Sorry," he said , the urgency still in his voice, "But I have to go now. It's time."

I heard Sirius inhale as if remembering. "I'm so sorry Moony, I completely forgot."

Remus shook his head, "No. It's understandable. It's your birthday. You're allowed a month off. I just thought I'd let you know. You know, just in case."

"Don't be ridiculous," Sirius replied brusquely. "Of course I'm coming, we've been through this before. You don't have to face it on your own anymore."

For all his talk, Remus still looked extremely relieved Sirius would be there for him. I stood there watching the two boys talk in riddles, wondering what the heck was going on.

"Is James already there?" Sirius asked.

"Can't find him," Remus said grimly, "and there isn't time now." He glanced out of the window again.

Sirius nodded.

He turned to face me briefly. "I've got to go. I'll find you later though, don't think I won't." He promised.

The two boys made a hasty retreat to the portrait hole.

"Happy birthday, Sirius," I called after him weakly.

To my surprise Sirius turned. He shot back a smile that would leave the average girl unable to function, before disappearing after Remus.

x

I made my way over to the punch bowl in a daze, focusing more on the butterflies still mutilating my insides than the boys weird behaviour.

I was immensely grateful for the added kick in the punch bowl.

As I downed the first cup full I noticed three girls walk over to me with knowing smirks plastered all over their faces.

"Well, well, well." Marlene exclaimed, her smirk growing ever wider. "What have we been up to Miss Morland?"

"Enjoy yourself?" Sally asked with a laugh.

It was pointless playing dumb, they'd obviously seen everything.

"Gotta go," I told them with a small smile, downing and pouring another cup full quickly. They looked put out, but my head had just begun to feel pleasantly numb.

x

Spotting Lily by the window I made a slow ascent over, making a conscious effort to walk in a straight line. Her face was stuck out of the window breathing in the cool air deeply. "Hey Lily." I greeted to the back of her head.

She turned to face me, her eyes bloodshot. "Some idiot spiked the punch," she slurred venomously.

I couldn't help but laugh. "I noticed," I replied, grinning lazily. My words sounded different somehow.

"You're drunk." She stated, her face a little disgusted.

"No!" I protested. My voice came out louder than expected over David Cassidy's dulcit tones crooning out Daydreamer.

A few couples slow dancing nearby shot me a dirty look. I pulled a face back at them, cracking myself up.

Lily grabbed me by the shoulders and promptly forced my head out of the window. "Take a deep breath in," she ordered.

I felt the thick clouds that had gathered in my head immediately clear a little.

Movement across the castle grounds caught me by surprise as I was trying to re-focus my eyes. For a split second I could've sworn I saw that huge black dog race across them top speed. By the time my eyes cleared he had gone.

I withdrew my head from the window, frowning.

"What?" Lily questioned.

"Thought I saw an animal out there," I told her uncertainly.

She poked her own head out, peering around.

"Severus?" She finally said incredulously.

Sure enough Severus Snape's moonlight pale skin and long cloak made a hasty clamber along the same trail as I could've sworn the dog had passed not a moment before. The trail led straight to the Whomping Willow.

"Alright Lils?" James Potter had approached us with the stealth of a cat making us both nearly jump out of our skin.

"Actually, no." Lily stated, her expression twisting uneasily.

James furrowed his brow. "What is it?" He demanded, serious now.

"James, what do you know about the Whomping Willow?" I asked suddenly, remembering Sirius and Snape's baffling conversation after class.

"Nothing." James snapped quickly.

His reaction made me sure he was hiding something. I continued undeterred.

"Sirius said something to Snape the other day about following someone," I told him. "Said Snape knew it had something to do with the willow and how he should come see it for himself. Then he whispered something to him I couldn't hear."

James looked like he'd seen a ghost, studying my face furiously as if to prove I was lying.

"_Remus,_" he muttered in horror.

Without another word he bolted it at top speed from the room.

"What, was _that_ about?" Lily demanded.


	20. Lycanthropy

**A/N: If you're returning, this chapter's been edited. Nothing new happens don't you don't have to read through it all again. I just wasn't happy with it.  
**

_This chapter I've been listening to Gotye, Somebody That I Used To Know. A great song with an inspired, if bizarre, video.  
_

* * *

**Chapter 20**

**Lycanthropy**

Lily and I stared back at one another, sobering immediately. Without saying a word we both made a dash for James' retreating back.

We may as well have been eating his dust the speed he was going.

I ripped my heels off as I ran through the corridors instigating a few strange looks from loitering students. At that moment I didn't care, there was no way I was losing him.

_Why was James so panicked to hear about Snape following something near the Whomping Willow?_

I just knew that -intentional or no- Sirius had done something truly awful.

x

"Going to tell me what's going on?" Lily shouted to me as we skipped the last few stairs heading out of the entrance hall and leapt onto the castle grounds. The damp grass soaked uncomfortably through the soles of my tights.

There wasn't time for explanations, the exertion of sprinting was already too much.

I spotted James in the distance and doubled my speed, feeling a familiar stabbing pain in my ribs.

_No_, I cursed inwardly, _not now._ I tried to ignore the growing stitch taking deeper breaths as I ran.

Once the reassuring glow from the hall was well behind us it began to dawn on me how stupid we had been to just follow like this, with no idea of where James was even going.

Lily's staggered, harsh breaths came at my side and I remembered I wasn't doing this alone. I remembered the boys' odd behaviour.

I was Gryffindor after all, wasn't this bravery deal supposed to be our thing? I_ had_ to know what was going on with them.

From the corner of my eye I noticed Lily had come to a sudden halt.

James had reached the willow.

x

Almost tripping over myself to stop in time I watched on in frozen shock as my old tormentor took the last few sprints to his death.

It seemed like he was just going to keep running at the thrashing tree until it made mincemeat out of him.

Out of nowhere a thick gnarled arm swung impossibly hard and fast for his head. There was no way he was escaping this one.

"_James!_" Lily screeched, her scream was absolutely deafening, but James didn't seem to hear.

I covered my ears in reflex, suddenly wanting to be anywhere but here watching him succumb to a painful death.

And then, like an invisible hand had pushed him down, James dropped to the floor. Performing an expert duck and roll, he somehow dodged the massive impact, grabbing a large branch from the ground on his way back up.

_He's going to fight it?_ I thought incredulously.

As if in retaliation yet another arm whistled fast against the wind in his direction.

Lily looked stricken at his seemingly pitiful defense.

It seemed she had cared for James more than she'd ever let on. But it was all too late now.

Brandishing his new, slightly feeble looking weapon James took a swing for the base of the tree.

_This was it,_ I realised. _He's a goner_. This was the last time we would ever see James Potter alive.

x

As his branch made contact with the roots the tree shifted suddenly, but then, as if someone had pressed the pause button, the Whomping Willow froze mid-move.

Without another glance back James dived feet first into a gaping hole at the foot of the tree.

Lily gasped audibly, bringing her hands to her mouth in sheer horror.

"What?" I murmured aloud, not comprehending what had just happened.

We both rushed over to where James had disappeared, but not a moment later the tree had resumed its violence. It looked like James was trapped under ground.

Lily and I just looked on dumbly watching the willow apparently swallow one of the only boys who'd ever had the ability to be impossibly amusing and frustratingly intolerable all at the same time.

The other was Sirius of course, but I didn't even want to contemplate where he was at this moment. I felt my heart give a painful tug and realised how far I'd let my guard down when it came to Black.

I'd waited for years to trust a boy enough to let him get close thanks to the Marauders, and after all that I'd gone and given my first kiss to my first tormentor.

Now that was messed up.

x

I forced myself to focus back in on what was happening around me, not wanting to have to deal with any of it.

We were still waiting for a sign of life for what felt like an hour later. Neither of us spoke, the only noise our ragged breaths blowing the precious warmth out from our bodies.

"We need to go to Dumbledore," Lily uttered quietly, her pale face and long spiralling hair making her look like a terrified spirit lost out on the moors somewhere.

I noticed she too was still wearing her dress from the party: too short, too thin and too revealing for this autumn-winter night. We erred against our feral surroundings.

Lily's purple rimmed eyes bored into mine, pleading with me to move. Finally I nodded. She was right. We weren't doing anything here apart from contracting pneumonia.

I felt Lily's small arm find mine as we made to walk away, huddling close to stave away the cold.

We had walked but a few steps before a sudden change in our surroundings stopped us in our tracks again.

I shook my head slightly in an attempt to bring the noise of our surroundings back to my ears. It was like all natural life had been put on mute.

But it wasn't just me experiencing this, I realised. The whistling of the breeze, the shaking of the leaves; everything really had stopped.

Almost like we were slap bang in the eye of a storm.

Lily and I turned slowly, hardly daring to look.

Just like it had earlier the willow had stopped its whomping.

x

We watched for a second as nothing seemed to move, until, in a sight as welcome as a desert mirage a solitary black mop of hair reappeared from the hole at the base of the tree.

Following just a breath behind James came another dark head.

I was shocked to see it was Snape. Snape had been down there the whole time.

Lily's sharp intake of breath told me Snape was the last person she had been expecting down there too.

His expression looked like no human I had ever seen before. Petrified didn't begin to cover it.

Snape's body lurched forward unnaturally and I noticed another pair of arms shoving him roughly out of the hidden tunnel from behind. Snape fell forward on his hands and knees, sprawling on to the grass.

My stomach lurched when I saw the culprit.

"Sirius." I frowned.

Lily looked around at me as though she had forgotten I was there. She too was absorbed in sick fascination at the scene playing out in front of us.

In one movement Sirius had extracted himself from the hidden passage.

I had never seen him look so out of control. Sheer anger seemed to haze the outline of his body. He glowered terrifyingly at Snape as though he wanted nothing more than to finish off the boy's existence once and for all.

I felt myself give a solitary shiver. What the hell had happened down there?

James gripped Snape resolutely under the arms and heaved him up, sending a warning glare in Sirius's direction.

Using his broad shoulders as a support system he hauled Snape up and away from the tree.

Once they were at a safe distance James dropped him unceremoniously, leaving the shadow of a boy to flop ungainly back to the floor.

It was as though Snape had lost all control over his own limbs. His eyes had still not lost the look of a person haunted by something they wished they hadn't seen or experienced.

x

Once all three boys were all well away the tree sprang back to life. It made me wonder if Peter and Remus were still down there somewhere. Somewhere in that strange, creepy passage lurking clandestine underground.

But why would anyone want to be down there in the first place?

Still not aware we were watching through the darkness, James doubled over to catch his breath.

Snape was left to crawl to his knees on the ground. Any shreds of dignity seemingly forgotten.

"You idiot, Sirius!" James's voice came out harsh between panting breaths. "Do you realise what you could've done?"

He dragged himself upright, ignoring the still struggling Snape.

"Everything we've worked so hard for. All those years spent in the bloody library. Do you ever_ think_ about what you're doing before you go ahead and risk everything?" James was livid. I had never heard him talk to Sirius like that before.

Sirius stared back at him as if, for once, he was trying to control himself.

"It was a joke," he replied, his voice dangerously quiet.

Potter breathed out a scoff. "Really hilarious Padfoot, well done."

"Oh save me the holier than thou act, James," Sirius spat. "Don't pretend you'd be bothered if Snivellus had been ripped to pieces."

Sirius didn't wait for his friend to reply. "He went down there to see Remus suffer. Wanted to find out what was going on so he could get some sort of petty revenge.

"If he had've met Lupin down there, it would've served the greasy little wannabe Death Eater right. Go on," he insisted, "Let's hear you deny it."

James looked away in disgust. "You dont get it do you, Siriu-"

But we wouldn't find out just what Sirius didn't get. Potter cut off suddenly.

He'd spotted us.

x

Both boys were now looking in our direction. They exchanged a wild glance.

Lily and I made our way over making it clear we weren't going to leave without an explanation.

Even Snape raised his head as we approached, his eyes widening when he saw Lily.

"Lily," he cried, as if using his voice was an exertion in itself. "Get away!" His voice was frantic. His arm thrashed wildly gesturing us to get back.

"We-Werewolf!" he spluttered out, pointing back to the tree.

Lily looked taken aback. "What?" She murmured quietly, shaking her head as if not understanding.

"Remus is a-" Snape started.

Sirius tackled Snape to the floor, pushing his face hard into the ground.

"You'll shut that big mouth of yours Snivellus, or I'll shut it for you." Sirius hissed fiercely, ignoring Snape's frenzied clawing to free himself.

"Get off him!" Lily cried out, trying desperately to heave Sirius off.

His silencing of Snape was pointless anyway. Suddenly everything made sense.

x

"Remus." I breathed, remembering Lupin's strange behaviour all evening:

Studying his watch every five minutes, telling Sirius he_ had_ to go without a seconds delay. Glancing out the window like there was something terrible coming for him. _The full moon_, I realised.

Sirius and James looked back at me as if I was about to internally combust.

Sirius shook his head at me almost imperceptibly. "Don't." He mouthed, his grey eyes burned into mine. Pleading with and warning me at the same time.

Warning me to what? Keep my mouth shut about a snarling werewolf hiding underneath a tree in the Hogwarts grounds...

It was impossible. Laughable, even. Remus, of all people. There had been a mistake. I was dreaming.

"Poor Remus." Lily's realisation came with a sharp intake of breath, and I knew all at once this was all ridiculously true.

Sirius finally clambered off Snape leaving him gasping horribly for air.

"Tell anyone about this Snivellus and you won't be around long enough to face the consequences." Sirius jabbed a warning finger at him.

"Does Dumbledore know about your monster of a friend?" Snape replied venomously, still taking in laboured breaths.

Sirius made yet another move to assault the kneeling boy, but James held his arm out to push him back.

"The Whomping Willow was Dumbledore's idea," he told Snape seriously. "All's said and done,_ you're_ the one trepassing Snivellus."

Snape laughed hollowly.

"A thing like that shouldn't be allowed anywhere near civilised society full moon or otherwise. At a_ school _no less. If you're telling the truth Dumbledore's an even bigger fool than I always thought!"

James's arm strained with the force of Sirius shoving to get his hands on Snape.

"Be quiet Severus." Lily commanded quietly, her eyes unblinking.

"It's a monster, Lily," Snape appealed desperately. "The tunnel leads to the Shrieking Shack. I _saw_ it."

"You saw nothing." Sirius warned again.

"It was hideous," Snape continued undeterred. "Hideous, Lily. I saw where they'd hidden it. Snarling, tearing the place up. I was lucky not to be killed!"

"That's an exaggeration," Sirius replied in disgust.

"You were at least thirty feet away when James caught you. Trust me, if you'd been any closer you _would_ have been eaten...And good riddance, too," he added seriously.

Lily looked torn.

"They're unregistered Animagi, Lily," Snape spat out quickly in a bid to claw back the control. "Has Potter told you that? You see I thought he would've considering how often he seems to profess his undying love for you-"

A sharp voice from behind cut abruptly through the stunned silence that followed. "Miss Morland, Miss Evans I would thank you to come with me."

McGonagall's tone told us she was not to be messed with. I wasn't sure if she'd heard what we were talking about or not, but if she did she certainly gave no indication.

"Severus, you will go to Professor Dumbledore. _Immediately._"

Without a word of protest Snape scrambled to his feet and made his way back to the castle, his expression alone giving away his bridled anger.

"As for you," she looked at Sirius and James pointedly. "I'm not sure exactly what role you've played in tonight's proceedings, but trust me when I say I _will_ find out. Come with me." She ordered.

"But Professor," James tried, his voice desperate, "we have to get back to Remus. It's important. He needs us."

"I think you'll find what he _needs_ right now is to be left alone," she corrected tersely. "He is in no condition to accommodate your obvious foolishness. The only thing you'd succeed in would be to get yourselves bitten. And then where would we be?"

Sirius and James looked at one another as if contemplating making a run for it while McGonagall waited for a response.

"Follow me." She ordered finally, turning on her heel and taking long determined strides towards the castle.

James shook his head resignedly, both boys realising their chance had passed. He quickly caught up with Lily, clearly starting the wholly necessary damage control with the object of his obsession.

I caught Sirius's eye by accident as we all started the long walk back up to the castle.

He looked back at me poker faced. I wondered if he blamed us for distracting them before they had a chance to go back under, back to help their friend.

Without a word I walked as far as I could away from his accusing stare as I could.

x

"You're not getting away that easily," Sirius warned weakly.

I kept my gaze trained forwards. After everything that had happened making eye contact with him seemed near impossible.

"I should be back there with him," Sirius stated finally.

I let out a steadying breath, trying to keep my cool. "It's like McGonagall said. It's not safe." I replied.

"Not safe for _people_." He corrected. "She doesn't get it. We can help him."

I looked up at him as if he'd lost his mind. And just what did he think he was?

Sirius studied my face. "Didn't you hear Snape back there?" He demanded.

"James and I...Peter...We're unregistered Animagi. Have been since fourth year. All so Remus wouldn't have to face all this on his own."

His face twisted, "Except thanks to _Snivellus_ it's just Moony and Pete down there now. And Peter's form isn't really in the position to do much if things do turn nasty..."

"Don't act so innocent Sirius," I hissed, ignoring the rest of his impossible babble. "You _told_ Snape to come here. We heard you after Potions that day."

His eyes darted to mine in surprise. "Don't you start!" He exclaimed.

"It was a _joke_! I never thought the stinking idiot would actually do it! He's old enough and certainly ugly enough to know as well as anyone what werewolves are capable of. If he wanted to put himself in the firing line just to cure his incessant nosiness, it's not my bloody problem."

My mouth pulled into a straight line.

"Except now it is," I reminded him. "Now it _is_ your problem."

Sirius shook his head.

"If Snivellus ever speaks a word of this to anyone, I'll kill him with my bare hands." He promised.

x

"You saved Severus," Lily spoke to James just a step ahead of us, not bothering to veil the surprise in her voice. With perhaps just the tiniest hint of, what? Reverence?

"You might not like me Evans, but I'm not a cold-blooded murderer for Merlin's sake. I had no choice."

"You could have just left him though." She murmured. "Nobody would've known any different. It would just be put down to a horrible accident."

James closed his eyes briefly. "No." He stated. "Sirius didn''t get it. If anything was to happen to Snivellus-" James ignored Lily's frown at the nickname, "-If anything had happened. If Remus had- had, well, you know. Bitten him or something... Remus would never forgive himself.

"They might even decide he's not safe to be around 'normal' people. I couldn't let that happen. Not for someone as worthless as Snape."

Lily seemed to look at him through new eyes. "You must care about Remus a lot." She said after a while.

"I care about all my friends," James's eyes flashed earnestly.

"I'd care about you if you'd let me," he added almost inaudibly. His voice was low and sincere.

In that moment something seemed to pass between them. An electricity so powerful it was palpable from two feet away.

"Well, carry on like this-" she croaked weakly, "-and I just might."

Then, leaning up toward him Lily did something almost unbelievable. She kissed Potter lightly on the cheek.

James's face broke out into the first genuine grin I'd seen on him all night.

He breathed a laugh before putting his head down, whether in surprise or to hide the unexpected blush that crept up onto his cheeks.

x

Sirius smiled weakly. "Go Prongs," he muttered, surveying the exchange with no small amount of surprise. "I hope Evans knows he'll be impossible to live with after this."

I knew Lily would never admit to it come morning.

A silence had fallen between Sirius and I as we walked on, still following the marching McGonagall.

"So, what animal are you?" I asked, finally finding my voice.

"Hm?"

"Well if you really are an Animagus, you must know what animal you are," I shrugged.

I knew Animagi's were usually representative of that person in some way. Just like a Patronus.

It was also really advanced magic. If Sirius and his friends really had managed it, it must've taken them years of hard graft to master. _If_.

Sirius looked to be in two minds of whether to actually answer me.

"Tell me," I coaxed, unsure whether to be impatient or amused by his unusual display of coyness.

The light of the entrance hall engulfed us as we stepped back into the safety of the school. I paused to put my heels back on with McGonagall showing no signs of stopping.

To my great shock Sirius actually held back for me.

When I straightened back up I felt a tentative hand come to rest on the small of my back.

Sirius kept his eyes resolutely forward, giving me no sign that his contact was anything more than a reflex.

In the bright light I could see his face properly. The usually handsome features looked surprisingly drawn.

Closing my eyes briefly in a silent prayer for inner strength, I tucked my own arm under his hesitantly. For the second time I felt the inexplicable urge to give him some sort of physical comfort.

His previous words came floating back to haunt me. _'Kiss everyone you feel sorry for?'_

I point blank refused to acknowledge that his temporary weaknesses merely gave me an excuse -rather than the drive- to touch him.

I did _not_ go around looking for excuses to touch Black. Did I?

The palm of my hand faltered on the soft material at the back of his black shirt, only a layer separating it from his naked skin.

My insides squirmed as I realised how much I wanted that layer to disappear. Even after everything he had done.

x

Sirius looked down at me in surprise or amusement, I wasn't sure.

I refused to return his gaze, trying to stay collected when my heart was hammering madly in my chest.

"I'm a dog," he uttered finally, watching my reaction carefully.

I forced my eyes up to his. The grey like molten steel. Far too beautiful for a boy.

It was only then that I realised where I had seen them before.

I felt my jaw drop.

x

Ducking out from his arm, I glanced furtively at McGonagall still in the distance.

For some unknown reason Sirius now looked to be holding back a smirk. He honestly thought this was_ funny_?

"It was you wasn't it?" I realised in outrage.

"You _growled_ at me!"

Sirius let out a barking laugh.

James and Lily glanced back shooting us a strange look.

"I did." He admitted mock-solemnly, once they'd turned their attention away.

"But then, I didn't really like you very much at the time." His face was most definitely cheered by my reaction. He seemed to be enjoying himself again. Unfortunately at my expense.

"Besides," he continued, "you were on my, I mean Padfoot's, territory. He can get very shirty over things like that you know."

I narrowed my eyes. This was anything but funny.

I thought frantically back to the meetings with what I now knew had been Sirius all along._ Had I said anything I shouldn't?_

"Hey," Sirius spoke more gently now, clearly trying to reign in his obvious amusement. "It's not like you told Padfoot anything I didn't know already," he shrugged.

"Besides, having to sit there and watch Javerbops try and come on to you was revenge enough. He's so full of it I nearly gagged on a hairball."

"It's Javerhops." I replied half-seriously.

"Whatever," Sirius dismissed. "That Hufflepuff meathead aside, I'm still fairly new to this Animagus thing in the scheme of everything. It took us _ages_ to get it right in the first place.

"Don't tell Pete I told you this, but he ended up going through a weeks worth of lessons with an inch wide tail tucked into the back of his trousers!"

He chuckled at the memory.

"Even now, instincts can take over very easily."

"So was it your 'instincts' when you came to me on the bridge the other week?"

The corner of Sirius's mouth tugged upward.

"Bit of both," he admitted.

"Never realised you liked having your ears scratched so much."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "If you had to deal with fleas I'm sure you'd develop a preference for long nails too, they're murder."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "Remus moaned at me something rotten for that day on the bridge, you know," he confessed.

"Thinks taking on our alter ego away from the full moon is dangerous. 'Compromises everything'."

Sirius spoke in an old woman's voice, waggling his finger in the air.

I felt a burst of laughter arise from nowhere at his impression.

Sirius grinned, waving cheerfully back at McGonagall's death glare.

"I realise I'm hilarious," he told me in undertones, "but I think you're getting old Gonagall's tartans in a spectacular twist."

x

We were still sat in McGonagall's office a good half an hour later. I don't think even she could decide exactly what to do with us, having not seen exactly what went on.

"I trust that none of you will be foolish enough to leave the confines of the castle after sundown in the future?" She demanded eventually, clearly fatigued at hearing our differing versions of tonight clash confusedly with one another. All of which protected the actual truth. "And _none_ of you will be breathing a word of Mr Lupin's ailment to anyone?"

She eyed Lily and myself carefully.

We all answered in the affirmative.

"I could expel you for that alone, you realise." She warned tersely as she looked at our chagrined faces.

"What about Snape?" James demanded.

McGonagall stared back at him.

"Not that it particularly concerns you Potter, but Severus will be properly cautioned I can assure you."

"Better do more than that." Sirius grumbled.

"Something to share Mr Black?" McGonagall questioned tartly.

Sirius flickered his eyes, but shook his head in answer.

"Good. Now, as no one was hurt -though Merlin only knows how- I have decided, on this occasion- _Not_ to punish you."

She raised her eyebrows at us. "Well?"

"Thank you Professor." Lily said quickly.

At the confirmation he definitely wasn't in trouble himself Sirius smirked charmingly. "Knew I could count on you, Minny," he winked. James grinned.

"_Don't_ push it." She warned, her eyes flashing dangerously. "It's against my better sense, believe me. You've had a narrow escape. You can thank Miss Evans and Miss Morland for that."

She gestured towards us, pursing her lips in disapproval. "I'm sure neither young lady would be involved in anything too untoward," she said, shooting us a pointed glare.

"Now leave." McGonagall warned. "All of you. Before I change my mind."

We needed no persuasion.

James leapt smoothly over the back of his chair, beating us all to the door with Lily soon after him.

I got up to follow and felt Sirius just behind me.

He pressed his body into mine as we exited the room, resting his hands on the sides of my waist. I swallowed, feeling a gentle tug behind my navel.

"Sirius!" McGonagall called suddenly from her desk. Sirius and I both flinched guiltily.

McGonagall cocked a knowing eyebrow. "Happy birthday," she said curtly.

x

As soon as I woke the next morning I pulled on some jogging bottoms and headed straight for Lily's room. It was Friday and the start of the November half term. The rest of the girls were still sleeping off the effects of the laced punch from the night before.

I was far too het up to sleep, I wanted to talk about what had happened last night. Surely it couldn't be real. Remus, a _werewolf_?

If the school was to hold a vote of least likely to be a bloodthirsty mythical creature in their spare time, I was pretty sure Remus would rank somewhere at the top.

Not knowing the password I waited at the bottom of the staircase for her to emerge. Luckily for me Lily was an early riser.

Unfortunately it seemed, so was Remus.

He walked toward me slowly as though worried I would bolt away from him like frightened rabbit.

"James and Sirius have filled me in about last night," he said, stopping several feet away from me. It seemed he viewed himself in the same vein as Snape had; a monster.

I crossed the distance between us irritably.

"I suppose you and Lily think me despicable now?" He asked with a false laugh.

"Actually I wasn't that keen on you before last night," I replied honestly.

Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Finding out about everything else about you - Well, there are worse things around right now." I told him truthfully.

"Like what?" Remus demanded, annoyance clearly lacing his usually calm voice.

"Like Death Eaters. Like the unforgiveable curses," I listed tersely."Or that 'dark wizard' said to be on the rise that the papers won't shut up about."

I looked around us before continuing. "In the scheme of things, you locking yourself away in the Shack every month really doesn't pose an immediate threat."

Remus blinked back at me.

"Wait, you 'weren't keen on me'?" He said finally. "What's that supposed to mean? I've done nothing but be civil to you."

"You hate me." I replied easily.

Remus frowned. "No I don't." He paused uneasily for a second. "I mean, well, yes, there are aspects of the ridiculous about you. But I don't hate you. I don't _hate_ anyone."

"_I'm_ ridiculous? This coming from the boy that brushes bat dung off his trousers with his bare hands," I replied incredulously, insulted now.

Remus's nose scrunched. "Still remember that, do you?"

"Like it was yesterday."

Remus forced a smile. "Sirius hasn't exactly made my life easy when it comes to you," he confessed tiredly. "Convinced himself _I'm_ in love with you when-"

"When what?" I frowned. "Sirius doesn't-"

Remus's eyes widened. "Oh lord, no." He assured. "It's as if he's _enjoys_ arguing with you. Any one of us can see he's clearly become attached. Trouble is it's something I believe he's only admitted to himself just recently. I love him like a brother, but Sirius Black can be something of a stubborn prat."

I let go of a small smile.

"Now I believe we made something of a truce at the beginning of the school year," Remus reminded me. "It's just... I don't really think we've stuck by it, do you?"

"Not really, no." I conceded.

Remus held his hand out for me to take. "It's bat pellet free this time I can assure you." A ghost of a smile danced on his lips.

A galloping Lily came racing down the stairs almost breaking our hands apart.

"Oh. Hi." She addressed Remus awkwardly.

They instantly spoke over one another in a confused babble.

"You know it's fine I-"

"I'll understand if-"

"It doesn't matter to me-"

"I _know_ I'm a monster-"

Finally Lily grabbed both Remus's hands in hers forcing him to listen. "You're a good person, Remus. You have a kind heart. _Nothing_ could ever possibly change my opinion of that."

Remus smiled weakly, his eyes bulging slightly when Lily threw herself around his neck.

Yep. Unlike myself, Lily was most_ definitely_ a hugger.

The three of us took a slow walk down to breakfast, Lily linking Remus's arm as if to prevent any form of escape.


End file.
